Python mistaken for male gives birth to 14 babies

Ronaldo, belongs to the Brazilian rainbow python species (Epicrates cenchria), which had not had contact with any of its own kind for at least nine years, it was rescued by an animal welfare organization and brought to Portsmouth City College, where a vet determined it was male.

However, Ronaldo surprised the caregivers when he gave birth to 14 cubs. Live Sciece “A student discovered them during a routine inspection of their accommodation. At first, we thought she had made a mistake. We couldn’t believe our eyes,” said Amanda McLeod, an animal care technician at Portsmouth City College.

The baby snakes are being checked to determine their gender and placed in the new enclosure. When they are old enough, they will be relocated.

This is only the third virgin birth recorded in the Brazilian rainbow python. “Ronaldo looked a little fatter than usual, like he had eaten a big meal. But we never thought he was pregnant,” said Pete Quinlan, a herpetologist at Portsmouth City College. share.

Virgin parthenogenesis, or parthenogenesis, is a form of asexual reproduction that occurs in animals that normally reproduce sexually. Although very rare, this form of reproduction has been recorded in a number of creatures living in captivity such as birds, sharks, lizards, snakes and crocodiles. In parthenogenesis, the egg matures without fertilization. In some cases, eggs can be fertilized by “polar bodies” – small cells that form in the reproductive tract at the same time as the egg cell.

There are many ways for parturition to occur and experts are not sure what mechanism prompted Ronaldo to give birth. “Essentially, the babies are clones of their mothers, although their characteristics are a little different,” Quinlan explains.