Overview
- Ronaldo, kept at City of Portsmouth College, delivered 12 babies without a mate, staff confirmed Tuesday.
- The boa previously produced 14 fatherless offspring in 2024, making this her second parthenogenetic birth.
- College staff say this could be the first known Brazilian rainbow boa to do it twice, noting only three prior documented cases in the species.
- Handlers reported nesting, heavy shedding, reduced appetite, and body stretching before the birth, and students are now learning to rear the litter in a quiet tank.
- Recent reports of parthenogenesis in an iguana in Telford and a swell shark in Louisiana place the case within a broader pattern seen in managed collections.