Virgin Snakes

[Quesi]

Researchers in the US caught pregnant females from two snake species and genetically analysed the litters.

That proved the North American pit-vipers reproduced without a male, a phenomenon called facultative parthenogenesis that has previously been found only in captive species.

Scientists say the findings could change our understanding of animal reproduction and vertebrate evolution.

Continue reading the main story

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19555550


Oh, I know that there is a joke in here somewhere...I just can't find it. 

Either that, or more proof that the end of days is near. 

[Nick]

I bet that talking  snake that tricked Eve to get Adam to eat that damn apple reproduced that way.  Damn demon snakes.  Maybe that is how Mary did it also.  "Hey Joseph, no, no, I was not with another man...it just happened".

[Mr. Blackwell]

I view this as confirmation bias

I have long held the belief that snakes should just go fuck themselves.

[Quesi]

I bet that talking  snake that tricked Eve to get Adam to eat that damn apple reproduced that way.  Damn demon snakes.  Maybe that is how Mary did it also.  "Hey Joseph, no, no, I was not with another man...it just happened".

You mean that the Garden of Eden snake was a FEMALE snake?  This is bad. 

I view this as confirmation bias

I have long held the belief that snakes should just go fuck themselves.

And apparently they do!  Some of them, at least. 

[mrbiscoop]

    That parthenogenesis takes place in some vertebrates is not a new discovery. Despite what the article says there are more than a few animal species that reproduce naturally by parthenogenesis, mostly Whiptail lizards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis#Reptiles
Edit: Getting my facts straight.

[jynnan tonnix]

I heard, once, that it was very occasionally seen in chickens; that you might find a fertilized egg from a hen in a facility which had no roosters. Don't know whether that is true, or whether it would produce a viable chick, but I thought it was interesting anyway. I think I was in high school or thereabouts.

It sort of coincided with the time that I was trying to sort out whether I was really supposed to believe Bible stories, since I had always sort of lumped them together with fairytales & mythology in my mind as a kid, and was finding the realization that adults took them as absolute truth somewhat perplexing. The idea that maybe once in many billion there might be a scientific reason a virgin could conceive appealed to me on that level.

[Quesi]

I heard, once, that it was very occasionally seen in chickens; that you might find a fertilized egg from a hen in a facility which had no roosters. Don't know whether that is true, or whether it would produce a viable chick, but I thought it was interesting anyway. I think I was in high school or thereabouts.

I remember when I was a kid, we would occasionally break an egg open and find that it was fertilized.  I'm not sure if these were in fact from facilities that had no roosters, or if it was just in the era before the very structured poultry farms.  Or maybe my parents bought farm eggs.  I really don't know. 

Honestly, as a young kid, I remember thinking about the fertilized eggs as a way to form my personal views on abortion.  When I was helping my mom in the kitchen, and we cracked an egg open and it had the red streaks in it, the question was, "is it an egg, or is it a chicken?"  And at about 8 or 9 years old, I concluded that a fertilized egg was an egg.  Not a baby chicken.  Not a human baby.  Just a fertilized egg.

[pianodwarf]

Honestly, as a young kid, I remember thinking about the fertilized eggs as a way to form my personal views on abortion.  When I was helping my mom in the kitchen, and we cracked an egg open and it had the red streaks in it, the question was, "is it an egg, or is it a chicken?"  And at about 8 or 9 years old, I concluded that a fertilized egg was an egg.  Not a baby chicken.  Not a human baby.  Just a fertilized egg.

I agree.  I've never really understood the pro-life view that conception means that you instantly have a human being.  I mean, following that logic, you would have to call this an oak tree, wouldn't you?

[screwtape]

^ It's an oak tree if it has the soul of an oak tree.