Question

Hello Rabbi,
Your approach—that the Talmud did not come to teach us zoology but Torah and ethics—is understandable, and likewise the point that this is a parable, etc. But how can one say that about the midrash:
“One philosopher wanted to know how long the snake takes to give birth. When he saw them mating with one another, he took them and put them in a barrel, and provided them with enough food until they gave birth. When the elders went up to Rome, they asked Rabban Gamliel. He said to him: How long does the snake take to give birth? And he could not answer him, and his face darkened. Rabbi Yehoshua met him and his face looked sickly. He said to him: Why does your face look sickly? He said to him: I was asked one question and could not answer it. He said to him: What is it? He said: How long does a snake take to give birth. He said to him: Seven years. He said to him: From where do you know this? He said to him: The dog is an impure animal and gives birth after fifty days, and cattle are impure animals and give birth after twelve months, and it is written: ‘Cursed are you more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field’—and just as cattle are more cursed than beasts by a factor of seven, so too the snake is more cursed than cattle by a factor of seven. As evening approached, he went up and told him. He began banging his head against the wall. He said: Everything I labored over for seven years—this one came and handed me on a single reed.’
And likewise the Gemara in Bekhorot:
“The Caesar said to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah: How long is a snake pregnant before it gives birth? He said to him: Seven years. [The Caesar asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah: What is the length of a snake’s gestation? He answered: Seven years.] But the elders of Athens mated snakes and they gave birth after three years. [But the ‘elders of Athens’ (the Greek sages) caused snakes to mate, and they gave birth after three years?] Those snakes had already been pregnant for four years beforehand. [Those snakes had been pregnant for four years earlier.] But they were mating. [But the snakes did mate (when the sages of Athens mated them).] They too mate like human beings. [{That is no proof, since} snakes too mate not only for reproduction, similar to human beings.] But they are wise. [But they (the sages of Athens) are wise.] We are wiser than they are. [We (the sages of Israel) are wiser than they are.]”
Isn’t it impossible to say that the Gemara is not necessarily claiming that the empirical science is correct and matches its scriptural calculations, even though science says that at most a year and a half can be two snake gestation periods? And likewise the Torah as historical proof conflicts with the Gemara’s words that the sages of Athens found it was after three years—which is also not true?
I would be happy for an answer