Virgin snake believed to be a male births 14 babies
And get this: the Rainbow Boa is said not to have had any contact with other snakes for nine years before giving birth.
A Brazilian Rainbow Boa, believed to be male, gave birth to fourteen snakelets.
It sounds like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, but we can assure you this is real. A vet declared Ronaldo, the boa brought to the UK College from the RSPCA in 2015, male.
Ronaldo was in isolation for almost ten years, so it was surprising for the staff to see the snake birth 14 babies.
"Ronaldo had been looking slightly fatter than usual like he'd eaten a big meal, but we never thought for a moment that he, or should we say she, was pregnant," Pete Quinlan, a reptile specialist at the college, said in the statement. (LiveScience)
This is said to be the third 'virgin birth' case reported in the population of Brazilian Rainbow Boas.
Virgin births or parthenogenesis is explained as a type of asexual reproduction. National Geographic says: "One parent copies itself to form a genetically identical offspring."
Put simply, "In parthenogenesis, eggs mature without fertilisation by sperm. In some cases, eggs can be fertilized by a "polar body," which is a small cell that forms in the reproductive tract at the same time as an egg cell." (LiveScience)
Although it is uncertain what triggered Ronaldo's reproduction, the babies are clones of the snake with markings that are slightly different.
Read more: Young girl has a reptile as her cuddle buddy
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