anteater that gave birth after being kept alone in a cage for a YEAR AND A HALF Was it immaculate anteater conception? A female anteater has unexpectedly given birth at a Connecticut conservation center after her mate was separated more than half a year prior, causing officials there to wonder how the mother conceived. Officials at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center told the Greenwich Time they had removed the only male anteater from the enclosure in August, long before the six-month gestation period for baby Archie would have begun. Mysterious anteater birth: Little Archie, pictured, was unexpectedly born at a Connecticut conservation center after his mother and father were separated months prior No male mate: Officials at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center told the Greenwich Time they had removed the only male anteater from the enclosure in Augus, but little Archie was born in April regardless They feared that male, Alf, would kill the firstborn, Alice, as male anteaters are known to commit infanticide. That left the mother Armani and the young female alone in the enclosure. But little Archie was born in April regardless. Marcella Leone, founder and director of the conservation center, suspects this might be a rare case of delayed implantation, when fertilized eggs remain dormant in the uterus for a period of time. "When she gives birth, her entire uterus is going to clear out," Stacey Belhumeur, species survival plan coordinator for the North American population of giant anteaters, told the Greenwich Time. Anything that's in her uterus, even another undeveloped embryo, would clear out. Some scientific papers have mentioned the scenario in which an animal's body pauses a pregnancy until environmental conditions are right, Dr. Margarita Woc-Colburn, an associate veterinarian at the Nashville Zoo, told the local newspaper. "As far as I know, there's been nothing documented of one pause versus another," she said. That's not to say it could not happen. Egg delay: Marcella Leone, founder and director of the conservation center, suspects this might be a rare case of delayed implantation, when fertilized eggs remain dormant in the uterus for a period of time (Stock photo)