Su segnalazione di @uqbal, da IFL Science.

An 11-year-old reticulated python named Thelma has given birth to six baby snakes without mating with a male. This is the first time a virgin birth has been documented in this species, Malayopython reticulatus, which holds the world record for “longest snake ever” in captivity.

The 200-pound, 20-foot (6-meter) Southeast Asia native has been housed at the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky for four years without a male partner. Her vivarium-mate is another female, Louise. In the summer of 2012, Thelma laid a clutch of 61 eggs, and she spent two weeks coiled up and brooding them before zoo staff removed the eggs for examination.