We Are Witnessing The End of Snake Men

Parthenogenesis, or asexual reproduction without fertilization, is not unheard of in nature. For some species, that’s the only way of reproducing. And while more zoos and aquariums are reporting surprise pregnancies in animals that require fertilization, it was previously believed that this only occurred with females in captivity isolated from males. Naturally, scientists were pretty dumbfounded that these lady vipers, that normally reproduce sexually, turned down totally capable male mates and just made their own baby snakes in the wild. Get it, gurl. If you know what you want, and a male is just going to hold you back, go for it.

However, unlike sexually reproduced litters, these parthenogenetic litters are characterized by snake babies with developmental failures and weak males, which further stumps researchers. Looks like the next step may be figuring out what the evolutionary purpose of opting out of creating genetically diverse, fit offspring.

It seems Dr. Ian Malcom may have been onto something with that whole “life, uhh, finds a way” thing.

[Scientific American]