There is a ball python at the St. Louis Zoo that's approximately 62-years-old, more than two decades older than the average lifespan of its species. Now, this elderly animal has laid seven eggs. That's especially odd because she hasn't had contact with a male python for more than 15 years. Zoo herpetologist Mark Wanner described the python's age and immaculate conception (my words) as "kind of crazy." From the New York Times:
Dr. Jonathan Losos, a professor of evolutionary biology at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in reptiles, said scientists had known for a while that there were some species of snakes and lizards in which no males exist and females reproduce asexually.
"What we didn't realize until relatively recently is that there are some species who normally are sexual — that is, require a male and a female to reproduce — that can occasionally reproduce without any sperm," Dr. Losos said. Komodo dragons, for instance, have been known to lay eggs asexually, a process called facultative parthenogenesis[…]
"We're not banking on the fact that these eggs will hatch," Mr. Wanner said, but "we're hoping."
