This baby dragon was found dead still inside his egg on January 2nd, 2005. I thought this was a very interesting case and decided to post these photos here for the interest of others.
This hatchling had been able to slit its egg shell and get only his mouth and nose out before it expired. Upon discovery, the hatchling was removed from its egg for examination and to determine cause of death.
Note the following abnormalities:
1. tail is completely lacking
2. body and neck are markedly enlarged
3. right nostrol communicates with the mouth and there are no teeth on rostral (nose) end of the maxilla (upper jaw).
4. Both rear limbs are dysplasic (deformed), the left rear food has an extra digit (polydactyl) which is much larger than the rest of the digits on this limb.
5. The "cloaca" (or what looks like one here) does not appear to have a true opening to allow for defication.
"His" (sex could not be determined due to lack of cloaca) parents are a pair of Sandfire het Leucistics. No other offspring have shown any deformities, either in this clutch or older sibs. This is believed to be a fluke. I plan on performing a necropsy in a few days to see the state of the internal organs.
It is assumed that if this hatchling would have survived the hatching process it would have required euthanasia or eventually succomed due to lacking a true cloaca.
<img src="http://therasdragon.splunk.net/BDs/Deformed/deform4.JPG">
<img src="http://therasdragon.splunk.net/BDs/Deformed/deform5.JPG">
<img src="http://therasdragon.splunk.net/BDs/Deformed/deform1.JPG">
<img src="http://therasdragon.splunk.net/BDs/Deformed/deform2.JPG">
<img src="http://therasdragon.splunk.net/BDs/Deformed/deform3.JPG">
<img src="http://therasdragon.splunk.net/BDs/Deformed/deform6.JPG">
<img src="http://therasdragon.splunk.net/BDs/Deformed/deform7.JPG">
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