In 2021, the Saint Louis Zoo in Missouri lost a very special resident. She was a snake, but not just any snake. You see, this ball python was the oldest snake in the world in zoo care. She lived to a staggering 62 years old, but not before doing something remarkable just a year before her death.<\/p>\n
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.<\/p>\n
In 2020, the news broke that this ball python female had laid a clutch of viable eggs. It was unexpected for a snake in her sixth decade, and even stranger given the fact she hadn\u2019t been in contact with a male for 15 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ball pythons (Python regius), also known as Royal pythons, are a species native to the grasslands of central and western Africa. The average ball python<\/a> lives up to 30 years in captivity, so this individual was exceptionally old, especially for a mother-to-be.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019d definitely be the oldest snake we know of in history,\u201d Mark Wanner, manager of herpetology at the zoo, told the Associated Press<\/a> in reference to her producing the eggs.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n According to an email from the zoo\u2019s Guest Experience Department shared on Reddit<\/a>, the snake passed away in 2021. Not surprising, given her great age compared to the average life expectancy of these snakes, but she left behind a small legacy.<\/p>\n Of her clutch, two eggs hatched and one of those snakes survived. The zoo is now collaborating with its university research partner to ascertain if this really was a case of parthenogenesis \u2013 aka, \u201cvirgin birth\u201d.<\/p>\n