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SCIENCESaturday 19 September
Captive snake with no male companion gives birth _ again
JIM SALTER This 2015 photo provided by the Missouri Department of Conservation shows a female yellow-bellied water snake at the Cape
Associated Press Girardeau, Mo., Conservation Nature Center that for the second time in two years has given birth without any help from a male
ST. LOUIS (AP) — For the member of the species, conservationists say.
second time in two years,
a captive snake in south- Associated Press
east Missouri has given
birth without any interac- this species gives birth to accounts of successful stor-
tion with a member of the live young rather than eggs
opposite sex. that hatch. age as long as three years.
Officials at the Missouri Robert Powell, a biology
Department of Conser- professor and snake expert “Long-term storage is un-
vation’s Cape Girardeau at Avila University in Kan-
Conservation Nature Cen- sas City, said the Brahminy usual. When you run into sit-
ter say a female yellow- blind snake — a small bur-
bellied water snake repro- rowing animal native to uations like this, you always
duced on her own in 2014 southeast
and again this summer. Asia commonly known as wonder, ‘Is that a possibil-
The snake has been living the flowerpot snake — has
in captivity, without a male long been the only known ity?’” he said.
companion, for nearly snake that routinely repro-
eight years. duces without a male’s “If nothing else, it’s an in-
An intern who cares for the contribution.
snake found the freshly laid In the Missouri case, it’s teresting phenomena.
membranes in July. possible — but unlikely —
This year’s offspring didn’t that momma snake simply Whether this is long-term
survive, but the two born stored sperm from her time
last summer are on dis- in the wild. storage or parthenogen-
play at the nature center, But Michelle Randecker,
about 100 miles south of St. a naturalist at the center, esis, it’s cool. Just another
Louis. said eight years is too long.
Conservation Department Powell agreed, saying a sign that nature works in
herpetologist Jeff Briggler female snake usually can’t
said virgin births are rare store sperm for longer than mysterious ways.”
but can occur in some a year, although there are
species through a process A.J. Hendershott, outreach
called parthenogenesis.
It occurs in some insects, and education regional su-
fish, amphibians, birds and
reptiles, including some pervisor for the conserva-
snakes, but not mammals.
Parthenogenesis is a type tion department,
of asexual reproduction
in which offspring devel- said there was some pride
op from unfertilized eggs,
meaning there is no genet- in having the first snake
ic contribution by a male.
It’s caused of its species reproduce
when cells known as po-
lar bodies, which are pro- through parthenogenesis.
duced with an animal’s
egg and usually die, be- “This is the way you make
have like sperm and fuse
with the egg, triggering This 2015 photo provided by the Missouri Department of Con- discoveries when you keep
cell division. servation shows membranes that were laid by a female yellow-
The conservation depart- bellied water snake at the Cape Girardeau, Mo., Conservation things in captivity,
ment said there are no Nature Center.
other documented cases ” Hendershott said. “You
of parthenogenesis by a Associated Press
yellow-bellied water snake. learn things about what
Like other water snakes,
they’re capable of.”q
