Flora, a female Komodo dragon who became pregnant despite being a virgin, became a mother and "father" of five this week, British scientists said on Wednesday.
The shells began cracking last week, after an eight-month gestation period, which culminated with the birth of the fifth dragon on Tuesday.
The five male hatchlings are between 40 and 45 centimetres and weigh up to 125 grams.
They are black and yellow in colour but their bright complexions will fade in time. Two eggs are still in an incubator and three others collapsed.
The hatchlings, which will grow to three metres in length, will be on public display at the Chester Zoo in northern England in the spring.
Scientists announced in December in the journal Nature that Flora was expecting after fertilizing the eggs herself, a process called parthenogenesis.
Chester Zoo staff first became suspicious in May when eight-year-old Flora laid eggs without ever having a male partner or even being exposed to the opposite sex.
While it wasn't unusual for female dragons to lay eggs without mating, they are not usually fertilized.
As a precaution, her eggs were placed in an incubator.
When scientists took a closer look at some of the eggs that collapsed, they noticed blood vessels and a small embryo.
DNA tests confirmed the lack of sperm but the hatchlings are not exact clones of their mother.
Flora, who has been described "as demure" has been raised in captivity and lives with her younger sister Nessie as part of a breeding program to protect the dwindling population of the species.
"Flora is oblivious to the excitement she has caused but we are delighted to say she is now a mum and dad," a delighted Kevin Buley, the zoo's curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates, told The Associated Press.
Buley said the reptiles are in good health and enjoying a diet of crickets and locusts.
The young dragons have not been named yet, he said.
"As Komodo dragons can live for over 40 years, we want to get the names just right," Buley said.
Other reptile species reproduce asexually in a process known as parthenogenesis, when eggs become embryos without male fertilization.
But the process had only been noted once before in Komodo dragons, the world's largest lizards.
Genetic tests showed that Sungai, a Komodo dragon at London Zoo, was the sole parent of four dragon hatchlings last April.
After they were born, Sungai went on to mate normally with a male dragon and produced another baby.
"Komodo dragons seem to be able to switch ways of reproducing to deal with a shortage of suitable boyfriends," Dr. Rick Shine, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Sydney, Australia, told AP recently.
In contrast, other lizard species that reproduce by way of self-fertilization cannot mate normally.
The evolutionary breakthrough could have far-reaching consequences for the captive breeding of the endangered species.
It is estimated that fewer than 4,000 Komodos are left in the wild, of which only 1,000 are female.
The reptiles, which are native to Indonesia, are the world's largest lizards.
With files from The Associated Press
