Snake Gives 'Virgin Birth,' Parthenogenesis, Twice To Extraordinary Babies With Unique Genetic Make-Up

BBC :

A female boa constrictor snake has given birth to two litters of extraordinary offspring.

Evidence suggests the mother snake has had multiple virgin births, producing 22 baby snakes that have no father.

More than that, the genetic make-up of the baby snakes is unlike any previously recorded among vertebrates, the group which includes almost all animals with a backbone.

Details are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

Read the whole story: BBC

Comments

[naturalista]

02:14 AM on 11/09/2010

so my ball python's an underachiever. great.

[J0E1]

11:09 AM on 11/08/2010

22 snake Jesuses!  Snakes all over the world rejoice!  It's only a matter of time until we see the denier snakes fight with the believers and all out war within the snake kingdom.

[wnt3r]

10:55 AM on 11/08/2010

The second coming of Jesus!

[Puffin16]

10:16 AM on 11/08/2010

The snakes were sick and tired of getting the bum rap for the whole Garden of Eden thing, so they came up with this ingenious plan! Priceless!

[Schoolgirl666]

09:44 AM on 11/08/2010

But Mother Snake....I was only swimming in the pool....I don't know how this could have happened...There were boys around but they were just hissing...I never hissed back...

[LHoney]

09:31 AM on 11/08/2010

Isn't this what happened in Jurassic Park??

[Carbon Forteetoo]

02:17 PM on 11/08/2010

Doing my best Jeff Goldblum: "Life....will find a way. Yes...yesyes."

[CommanderChe]

08:05 AM on 11/08/2010

good read

[honda honey]

02:30 AM on 11/08/2010

The Christians will have fun with this one.

[blitznstitch]

12:59 AM on 11/08/2010

I want to know if all the virgin birth baby snakes are female.

[honda honey]

02:29 AM on 11/08/2010

Yes, me too. I have a feeling they might be.

How interesting that she's asexually producing a genetic mutation.

[J0E1]

11:13 AM on 11/08/2010

or this:
First impressions suggested there was something special about these babies: all were female and all had a particular, rare caramel colouration.

[J0E1]

11:13 AM on 11/08/2010

You two should try reading the actual article.  It's a good read and there are parts of it that hint toward an answer to your question.  This one for example:
"All offspring are female. The offspring share only half the mother's genetic make-up," he told the BBC.

[rambot02]

11:02 PM on 11/07/2010

Christine O'Donnell wants to be a mother. She's considering consulting with Mama Snake on how to accomplish that goal without doing the nasty.

=^..^=

[boomcat44]

10:24 PM on 11/07/2010

So if the offspring all have the ZZ chromosomal arrangement, does that mean they'll grow long beards?
I'm JUST asking!

[Matthew Harrold]

09:42 PM on 11/07/2010

"He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty snake."

So it turns out the Virgin Mary is up there with snakes, invertebrates and certain species of lizard. Good company for the mother of the saviour of mankind.

[Michael Mouton]

09:28 PM on 11/07/2010

Praise virgin snake!

[stormpilot]

06:40 PM on 11/07/2010

As a keeper of a few species of boas, my understanding is that some boa constrictors females can breed with a male, store the sperm live for an extended period and then use it to produce eggs at a later time. After reading the article, it is apparent that these babies did not have any DNA of the males that were housed with the female, but only had the mothers genetic material. Intriguing!

[Grazziella]

06:07 PM on 11/07/2010

She's a feminist!!!

=)