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Two-headed animals are common in legends, myths and folktales. However, sometimes they appear in real life. These polycephalic animals are rare and mysterious. What makes them have more than one head? Can they lead a normal life? We’ll explore those questions as we share six verified cases of two-headed animals.
Are there naturally polycephalic animals?
By nature there are no two-headed animal species. If an animal is born with two heads, there is a congenital defect.
The animals most likely to be born with two heads are: snakes and turtles. lambs and pigs are sometimes born with two heads. In extremely rare cases, it can happen: dogs and cats.
What Causes Polycephaly?
The process that creates monozygotic (identical) twins can sometimes result in two heads or two joined bodies.
When twins form in the womb, the embryo splits into two identical halves. This leads to identical twins. They are identical in that they are two halves of one zygote. Fraternal twins come from two zygotes that were fertilized together.
In some cases, an abnormality causes the zygote to split only part of the way. Instead of two fully formed twins, it splits into two semi-formed babies sharing a body. In most cases, this means that the two-headed baby is doomed to fail from the start.
Are two heads better than one?
Unfortunately, having two heads is not an advantage for any animal. A two-headed animal usually has an oddly shaped body that is difficult to move through the animal’s natural terrain.
Two-headed animals also have trouble getting enough nutrients to their brains. Their divided systems cannot pump enough blood to their organs. For these reasons, few polycephalic animals survive to adulthood.
However, there are some cases of two-headed animals that lived for at least a few days. Following are six verified, real animals that were born with two heads.
6. Imagine the kitten
In 2000, a two-headed kitten named Image was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Owner Sandra Pyatt said she took extra care of the little tyke from the moment he was born. She also turned down many offers from people who wanted to buy Image.
“It’s not for sale,” said Pyatt, who said she was extra careful about feeding the little kitten according to her vet’s instructions. “No one wanted him to live more than me,” she told a local newspaper.
Unfortunately, he didn’t make it. Image died four days later.
5. Two-Headed Black Racer
in 2020, Florida conservationists rescued a two-headed southern black racer found in a family’s home. Black racers are non-venomous snakes common in Florida.
Wildlife officers said the snake was better off in a shelter because its chances of survival in the wild were low. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute said, “Two-headed snakes are unlikely to survive in the wild because the two brains make different decisions that populate the ability to feed or escape predators.”
4. The Perth Kitten
In 2008, a Perth, Australia, the vet was surprised when a cat in her care gave birth to a two-headed kitten. A news photographer happened to be at the vet’s office for unrelated reasons and he took a photo of the unusual kitten.
Like many cats that were born with two heads, he suffered from a cleft palate in one of his mouths. However, one mouth could eat and both could meow.
The vet thought the kitten would not survive, so his owners took him home to be with his mother. He died the next morning after choking on the fluid in his lungs.
3. Squirt and Crush: Two-Headed Baby Loggerhead
During a sea turtle patrol in 2021, volunteers in south carolina discovered a rare, two-headed baby mock boy. What’s even more amazing is that this wasn’t the first time a two-headed chick showed up in that state.
In 2017 and 2019, conservationists reported finding other two-headed baby turtles while checking the nests.
The nest monitor who found the two-headed turtle named it Squirt and Crush.
All baby loggerhead turtles undergo the same perilous journey when they are small. After they are born, they must run from their nest to the ocean before predators can catch them. Conservationists can protect breeding grounds, but they cannot remove young fry, even rare ones.
In a Facebook post, Jayme Davidson Lopko wrote: “This little guy is on his own, just like his siblings who came out of the nest and as they have for millions of years. Good luck and safe travels, special fellow.”
2. Paris and Nicole: two-headed bearded dragon
There is only a one in 25 million chance that a bearded dragon with two heads will survive into adulthood. One of those lucky ones lizards was born to reptile enthusiast Tony Rowe. Rowe is a man from Texas who loves bearded dragons. In 2005 he bred bearded dragons to sell the young ones to an animal broker. Everything went well, but one of the babies had two heads.
Rowe knew the unusual beast was in danger of dying without proper care. “If someone unfamiliar with bearded dragons had treated it like a normal pup, it would have died,” he told the Houston Chronicle.
In this case, the lizard was lucky. Rowe gave the two-headed wonder the extra care it needed. He later sold the living, healthy two-headed dragon to a broker.
1. Frank and Louie: Kitty with two faces
We’ve seen that two-headed cats rarely get past kittens. However, a two-faced cat lived with his condition for a long time. Frank and Louie, a cat with two faces and two names, was a media sensation when he was born in 2000.
The cat was a Janus cat, who is born with two separate faces. He had two noses and three eyes. He had whiskers on both noses. Although many people predicted that the unusual cat would soon die, it surprised the world by living a full feline life.
One reason is that, unlike many Janus or two-headed cats, he had no birth defects. The owners discovered this when they were making special feeding arrangements for the two-faced cat. Frank and L
ou
ie had no breathing problems, cleft palate, or other problems.
In 2012, Frank and Louie are even in the… Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-lived two-faced cat. He died at 15.
According to owner Marty Stevens, the cat had a loving, friendly nature. He was clearly a remarkable cat.
Next one: Do bears have tails?
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