“A miracle”: a boa, thought to be a male, gives birth to 14 babies… all alone

An immaculate conception (or almost). A snake identified as malebut ultimately female, gave birth of 14 babies in the south of England, without the help of another reptile.

Students and staff at the University of Portsmouth, where the reptile is held captive, were “stunned” to discover this birth, notes the city press release.

“We couldn’t believe our eyes”

Ce rainbow boanamed Ronaldo, had not been in contact with other snakes for at least nine years. He therefore gave birth alone, without reproducing with another individual.

“One of the students discovered them during a routine check of the vivarium. At first we thought she must be wrong. We couldn’t believe our eyes! » says Amanda McLeod, animal caretaker at the University of Portsmouth.

A birth without reproduction

This “miracle birth”as the city describes it, is due to a very rare phenomenon: the parthenogenesis.

This natural form of fertilization allows an individual to reproduce asexually. The embryo is then fertilized without the help of cells of the opposite sex.

The university’s reptile specialist, Pete Quinlan, was called to the site to analyze the discovery. “I’ve been breeding snakes for 50 years and I didn’t know this was happening,” he said, “in shock.”

In fact, the babies are clones of their mothers, although their markings are slightly different.

Only the third asexual birth in the world

The 1.8 meter animal appeared “a little bigger than usual”without revealing a pregnancy, notes the specialist.

Boas are ovoviviparous, that is to say that the eggs are incubated in the mother’s womb. She then gives birth directly to baby snakes.

It would only be the third time in the world that this phenomenon occurs in a captive rainbow boa.

This is a great opportunity for our students to learn more about the development of baby snakes.

The specialist is now working on identifying their sex and building 14 vivariums for the babies.

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