A peculiar incident has occurred in the reptile house of Saint Louis Zoo : a ball python has laid a pile of egg despite having no contact with a male python for decades . A true potent independent snake .
Saint Louis Zoo in Missouriannounced this weekthat their zookeepers were surprised to find oneself their 65 - year - honest-to-god Lucille Ball python had laid seven eggs back in July . This was strange enough , considering the snake was very previous , but their wonder compound when they work out the mature female had not been near a male for at 15 years .
Ball pythons ( Python regius ) , also known as Royal pythons , are a species native to the grassland of central and westerly Africa . The average ball python live up to30 years in captivity , so this individual is exceptionally old , peculiarly for a mother - to - be .
“ She ’d definitely be the oldest Snake River we acknowledge of in story , ” Mark Wanner , manager of herpetology at the zoological garden , told theAssociated Pressin reference book to laying eggs .
This mysterious peck of ballock is unlikely to be a case of confidential lovers in the nighttime when the zookeepers are n’t around . rather , the zoological garden articulate there are two potential explanations .
Firstly , it is potential for egg pythons and some other reptile to store spermatozoan for delayed fertilisation . This isa strategythat grant animals to have offspring at a more commodious time .
instead , the python might have reproduce asexually through a process known as facultative parthenogenesis . Stemming from the Greek words for “ pure nativity , ” parthenogenesis is a comparatively common process in several dirt ball mintage and flora . It ’s also not unheard of among a quality handful of vertebrates , include some species oflizards , serpent , rays , shark , andeven wench . This is a lifelike form of nonsexual facts of life and an unfertilised egg can develop and develop fertilized egg without fecundation from spermatozoan .
It ’s an implausibly utile trick if a female does n’t come into contact with a male for an extended period , but it ’s generally considered to be not as preferred as unspoiled erstwhile fashioned intimate reproduction because it can run to a gloomy genetic version among a population and come with many risks .
The zoological garden is n’t certain yet which of these possible scenarios is the casing , but they trust to witness out through desoxyribonucleic acid testing once the testis hatch . If the female did produce the testis asexually without the need for a male , then this is would be clearly depict in their gene .
