Oldest living snake lays eggs 'without male help'

The oldest snake in captivity has left experts puzzled by laying eggs without the help of a male.

The 62-year-old ball python produced seven eggs at Saint Louis Zoo in Missouri despite having not been around a mate for at least two decades.

The birth was all the more unusual because the python is not only believed to be the oldest living snake, but also the species typically stops laying eggs long before they reach their sixties.

“She’d definitely be the oldest snake we know of in history” to lay eggs, Mark Wanner, the manager of herpetology at the zoo, said.