Snake thought to be male welcomes 14 baby reptiles

In a surprising twist of nature, a snake previously thought to be male surprised everyone by giving birth to 14 snakelets.

Citing researchers at City of Portsmouth College in Southern England, CBS News said that the 13-year-old boa snake named Ronaldo welcomed fourteen snakelets without having mated since she was rescued nine years ago.

"Ronaldo had been looking slightly fatter than usual, like he'd eaten a big meal, but we never thought for a moment that he, or should we say she, was pregnant," City of Portsmouth College reptile specialist Pete Quinlan said in a news release, attributed by the CBS News.

Additionally, this "virgin birth" was discovered by a student during a routine vivarium check.

"One of the students informed a staff member that there were baby snakes moving around inside one of the tanks," Quinlan told BBC.

He added, "I raced down here to see what was going on, and lo and behold there were baby snakes everywhere."

Ronaldo's snakelets are being well looked after at the City of Portsmouth College, the school where his owner is employed.

According to National Geographic, most animals need "to breed to reproduce," however, "a small subset can have offspring without mating." This process is called parthenogenesis, in which "the animal body finds a unique way of filling in for the genes usually provided by sperm."

Nonetheless, this phenomenon is uncommon. It has only been documented three times in Brazilian rainbow boa constrictors.

In February, a US stingray also got pregnant despite having no mate.