Anna the Anaconda experiences a 'virgin birth' in Boston
Yes, you read that headline right! An anaconda impregnated herself - and it has left staff at the New England Aquarium in Boston stunned.
The staff were setting up for an after-hours event at the 'Amazon Rain Forest' exhibit when they made the amazing discovery. Anna the Anaconda, who weighs 30 pounds, is eight years old, and is 10 feet long, had given birth to baby snakes.
The resident biologist was notified immediately and scrambled into the tank to get a closer look. Upon arrival, he found three live baby snakes and about a dozen stillborn.
Anna had no trouble reproducing in an aquarium setting. According to The Washington Post, if the reptile is left freely to breed, the anaconda can have dozens of babies at a time.
By tests and design, Anna's babies are all females, yet the question remains - how did she do it?
The staffers immediately suspected a rare reproductive strategy called parthenogenesis, which means that a female organism can self-impregnate. She does not need any man-aconda.
The word itself is of Greek origin. Its translation means 'virgin birth'.
The phenomenon is far more common in plants and insects, but it has been documented in some lizard, shark, bird, and snake species. Just once before, at a zoo in the United Kingdom in 2014, scientists documented a parthenogenesis case in a green anaconda whose young were born alive.
Spokesman Tony LaCasse says: “It’s among that tagline, life will find a way. It’s a completely unique and amazing reproductive strategy, but it has low viability compared to sexual reproduction."
"Parthenogenesis is not necessarily a product of captive circumstances. The process has been documented in the wild and is known to occur within species where the female might not see a male for an extended period of time," LaCasse added.