1 of 2 | A snake named Ronaldo gave birth to 12 babies without the participation of a mate two years after giving virgin birth to 14 babies. Photo courtesy of the City of Portsmouth College
March 31 (UPI) — A Brazilian rainbow boa snake living at England’s City of Portsmouth College gave birth to 12 babies without a mate — and it isn’t the first time.
The college’s animal management center said the snake, named Ronaldo, unexpectedly gave birth to 14 snakes in 2024 without mating, and she has now birthed 12 more fatherless babies.
The process of reproducing without a mate, known as parthenogenesis, has only been documented in Brazilian rainbow boas on three occasions. Ronaldo is the first of her species known to have done it twice.
“I’ve done as much research as I can and I can’t find any record of it happening twice,” Pete Quinlan, animal care technician at COPC, said in a news release. “I had my suspicions for a couple of weeks and then suddenly she was showing all the signs.”
Quinlan said the 14-year-old snake will soon be leaving the school.
“She was mine for nine years before she came here,” he said. “And it’s almost time for her to retire and come back to me. She’s clearly had a great time at COPC — for parthenogenesis to happen, the conditions have to be perfect. Which I think is a great testament to the facilities we have here.”
Parthenogenesis has also been documented before in other captive species — an iguana hatched eight babies at The Exotic Zoo in Telford, England, last year, despite never sharing an enclosure with a male. Similarly, a swell shark hatched last year at The Shreveport Aquarium in Louisiana in a tank that only held two female sharks.