A female snake at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center in Missouri has given birth after being alone for about eight years. It was the second consecutive year when the yellow-bellied water-snake gave birth without the help of a male snake.

As per a report in The Washington Post, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) officials think the water-snake is the first of its kind to give ‘virgin birth’, also known as parthenogenesis. Jordi Brostoski from the MDC said the virgin birthing is common among insects, but it was never seen among snake species before.

According to an intern, Kyle Morton, he was on a routine check when he first saw the snake's membranes in its cages. Morton said he didn’t have any idea what was that, and thought it was some kind of joke.

In a press release by MDC, Morton said he thought someone put tomatoes in the snake’s cages. The snake was acting normal, and did not eat the membranes for many weeks, as per the intern. Brostoski had seen the same reaction last year when the snake gave the first virgin birth.

While remembering last year’s incident, the MDC naturalist said, “At first I thought the snake had regurgitated something until I looked at it closer. That's when I realized what had happened and then the hatchling snakes surprised me by slithering under the bedding in the cage”.

A herpetologist at the MDC, Jeff Briggler, said virgin birth occurs when a female fertilizes its eggs by producing sperm. Sperm storage is not possible in the snake’s case as it has been at the center from a long time, Briggler added.