And while the powers that be blamed it all on a damn snake, went ahead and persecuted women for it anyway.
Boa Constrictors Can Have Babies Without Mating, New Evidence Shows
ScienceDaily (Nov. 3, 2010) — In a finding that upends decades of scientific theory on reptile reproduction, researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that female boa constrictors can squeeze out babies without mating.
More strikingly, the finding shows that the babies produced from this asexual reproduction have attributes previously believed to be impossible.
Large litters of all-female babies produced by the "super mom" boa constrictor show absolutely no male influence -- no genetic fingerprint that a male was involved in the reproductive process. All the female babies also retained their mother's rare recessive color mutation
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101103111210.htm