(Photo: Unsplash/ Representational)
A 13-year-old boa snake, named Ronaldo, who was thought to be male gave birth to 14 babies at City of Portsmouth College in southern England. The six-foot-long Brazilian rainbow boa was not in touch with any other snake for at least nine years, according to researchers at the City of Portsmouth College.
Peter Quinlan, the reptile specialist at the college, said that the births were from a rare phenomenon called parthenogenesis- a natural form of asexual reproduction, often called ‘virgin birth.’
“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,” Quinlan said in a news release.
The release said that the baby snakes were discovered by a student at the college while on a routine vivarium check. According to the researchers, who described it as a ‘miracle event,’ it was only the third recorded case of a Brazilain boa giving birth through parthenogenesis.
“At first we thought she must have been mistaken,” Amanda McLeod, the animal care technician at the City of Portsmouth College was quoted saying in the news release. “We couldn’t believe our eyes!”
The release added that the researchers, led by Quinlan, are working to determine the sex of the newborn snakes. After that, vivariums will set up for them and they will be housed in the college itself, alongside Ronaldo.
In a 2010 study published in Biology Letters, researchers observed a boa constrictor that produced 22 offspring over a two-year period through parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction. This remarkable finding highlighted the snake’s ability to reproduce without a male.
Further evidence of parthenogenesis was documented in a 2013 study, which reported a 22-year-old captive Brazilian rainbow boa giving birth to four offspring. Interestingly, this boa had been kept with a vasectomized male, confirming that the young were not a result of sexual reproduction.
Another instance of asexual reproduction was noted in 2019 at the New England Aquarium, where an anaconda gave birth despite being housed solely with adult female snakes. This case added to the growing body of evidence that certain snake species can reproduce without male involvement.
