INTERNATIONAL: A Brazilian rainbow boa, apparently conceived asexually at Phoenix Zoo in Arizona in the United States is thriving after being hatched by its mother without male fertilization. It’s only the second documented case of this in this particular snake species.

The snakelet was found in its mother’s enclosure on 3 August 3. The zoo says the mother, who has been in Phoenix Zoo for ten years, has never been paired with a male. The baby boa was “likely born through a process called parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction where an egg develops without fertilization by a male’s sperm. The zoo says this type of virgin birth is known to snakes as facultative parthenogenesis (FP).

Although some reptiles exclusively procreate through parthenogenesis, boas primarily stick to old-fashioned sexual reproduction. This Phoenix Zoo boa appears to be only the second documented case of parthenogenesis in the species, after a boa born at Sacramento Zoo in 2018.