Elysee Barakett is a health intern at NBC News.
Ronaldo, a 6-foot Brazilian rainbow boa constrictor kept at a school in England, was thought to be male — until the snake gave birth to 14 babies last month. The boa had not had contact with another snake for nearly a decade, so she appears to have undergone a natural process of asexual reproduction called parthenogenesis. The term is derived from the Greek words for “virgin birth.
Parthenogenesis can also occur when sex cells duplicate then join back together; this process creates clones of the mother, though it primarily occurs in plants, not animals. Researchers are still investigating why parthenogenesis occurs in animals, and how frequently. Quinlan said some researchers believe that snakes undergo parthenogenesis when females do not have a mate for most of their lives. In recent years, several other reports have emerged of animals reproducing asexually in captivity.
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