Male snake called Ronaldo gives birth to 14 babies in rare 'virgin birth'
Staff and students at the City of Portsmouth College in England were left shocked after a snake that was thought to be male gave birth to 14 snakelets. The Brazilian rainbow boa snake, called Ronaldo, is around 13 years old and was identified by vets as a male some nine years ago.
No contact with other snakes
What makes the birth of the 14 snakelets even more complicated is the fact that Ronaldo has not come into contact with any other snakes for at least nine years. Amanda McLeod, an animal care technician at the college, said the 14 babies were discovered during a routine check of Ronaldo¡¯s vivarium habitat by a student.
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¡°At first, we thought she must have been mistaken. We couldn¡¯t believe our eyes,¡± she said.
What is virgin birth
Vets at the college called it a ¡°miracle birth¡± or virgin birth, a rare but natural occurrence that has not happened there for more than fifty years. It is called parthenogenesis, a natural form of asexual reproduction where embryos develop without fertilization.
Not seen in fifty years
¡°I¡¯ve been breeding snakes for 50 years and I¡¯ve never known this to happen before,¡± Peter Quinlan, a reptile specialist at City of Portsmouth College, where Ronaldo lives, said. "Effectively, the babies are clones of their mother, although their markings are all slightly different," he said.
According to Quinlan, they had noticed that Ronaldo was looking fatter, which was thought to be due to eating a heavy meal. "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," he said.
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He mentioned that Ronaldo¡¯s pregnancy was only the third to be documented for a captive snake of its species in the world.
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