A rainbow boa constrictor (Epicrates cenchria), thought to be a male, gave birth to 14 hatchlings after almost a decade of isolation. The 13-year-old snake, named Ronaldo, had not been in contact with any other snake for at least nine years. Ronaldo was a rescued snake previously identified as a male by a veterinarian.
«A student found them during a routine vivarium inspection. At first we thought she was mistaken. We couldn’t believe our eyes!” said Amanda MacLeod, an animal care technician at Portsmouth City College in the UK, where the snake is kept.
This is the third «virgin birth» recorded in the Brazilian rainbow boa. Virgin birth, known as parthenogenesis, is a type of asexual reproduction. It sometimes occurs in species that normally reproduce sexually. The phenomenon is extremely rare, but it has been recorded in several captive species — birds, sharks, lizards, other snakes, and a crocodile.
«Ronaldo looked a little fatter than usual, as if he had eaten a lot, but we didn’t think for a moment that he, or rather she, was pregnant,» said Pete Quinlan, a reptile specialist at the college.
During parthenogenesis, the eggs mature without being fertilized by a sperm. In some cases, eggs can be fertilized by a «polar body», a small cell that forms in the reproductive tract at the same time as the egg. There are several different ways of parthenogenesis, and it is unclear which mechanism prompted Ronaldo to give birth to offspring.
The boa was brought to Portsmouth City College after being returned by an animal welfare charity. Now the cubs are being evaluated to determine their sex and placed in new enclosures. When they are big enough, they will be relocated.
Source: LiveScience
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