Snake gives 'virgin birth' to extraordinary babies

Snake gives 'virgin birth' to extraordinary babies

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.

I wonder if this might be a fail safe against extinction. A female snake giving birth without ever mating apparently does happen in nature, but less common in vertebrates.

It might explain why animals we thought were extinct have reappeared decades later. Although the issue with the genetic makeup of the snake makes one wonder. I am curious what might be found by analyzing it.

reply to post by Xcathdra


That's really cool.

I have some friends who are snake breaders and I will be forwarding the article to them.

A snake like that would be worth quite a penny on the market.

~Keeper

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i bread ball pythons... if my girls could do that my life would be so much easier.

reply to post by 12m8keall2c


Lol is there a way to fix the search function? It seems to be hit or miss in terms of working or not working. It gives a list of topics but does not zone in on the key words, or it just comes back error.

Thanks

Originally posted by ilytjb3
i bread ball pythons... if my girls could do that my life would be so much easier.

I also breed ball pythons. Love the little guys. I have heard of geckons and a few snakes doing the virgin birth thing in the past. Its not very common but it can happen.

i most definitely agree that this would be some sort of fail safe trait embedded in the dna what makes me wonder is if its possible that all animals have this hidden somewhere maybe only triggered by instict when that time actually came. in this would be considered a false alarm? maybe accident i dunno but i always wondered when this has happened

Originally posted by subliminalsubconcious
i most definitely agree that this would be some sort of fail safe trait embedded in the dna what makes me wonder is if its possible that all animals have this hidden somewhere maybe only triggered by instict when that time actually came. in this would be considered a false alarm? maybe accident i dunno but i always wondered when this has happened

Based on our still limited understanding of genomes I would say its safe to assume this might be a built in survival trait in animals, possibly including humans at some point (The male Seahorse is the one who carries and gives birth instead of the female).

If its built into the DNA then its possible there was some error that occurred triggering the survival trait early..

lol who knows.

reply to post by Xcathdra


That's the real mystery isn't it? What triggered the response?

Reproduction in same sex populations of reptiles isn't unheard of...frogs mostly, as I recall, but that was some time ago, and the research could include more these days.

WOW, I guess we have another Son of God that has come in the flesh via virgin birth!!!! Looks like Jesus' brother is a snake. Hmmm, looks like jesus was really the Serpent after-all, eh?

Well, well, well, hmmmmm....

reply to post by Gazrok


The catalyst is what I am intrested in. The fact this occured in a snake species that has not demonstrated this ability in the past raises questions. Why now... Did this snake have dormant genes that allowed this in the past, and if so is it a fluke it activated, or was there some other reason.