Python parthenogenesis

Thelma (IMAGE ABOVE) shares an enclosure with Louise at the zoo in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. Despite being a male-free zone, this 11-year-old reticulated python produced 6 offspring in June 2012. The female babies – dwarfed by their 200 lb. (91 kg), 20 ' (6 m) long mother – are all half-clones, with 3 retaining her intricate reticulated pattern, and the rest displaying a pattern of bright yellow with black stripes. The number of species capable of parthenogenesis or virgin births – snakes, birds, sharks, and other animals – continues to grow. Biologist Warren Booth of the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma observes, "It's something we used to consider an evolutionary novelty that's much more common than we thought."

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