A cute and rare two-headed turtle was spotted in the city of Suffolk in Virginia State, US. The video of this mutant went viral on Facebook. After a common public found this two-headed turtle in the wild, it was handed over to The Virginia Living Museum, after which a live video was shared on the museum's official Facebook page on its new arrival.
"Polycephaly" is the scientific term used for the condition of having a body with two heads, the Virginia Living Museum explained on Facebook. However, this is extremely rare in mammals but happens occasionally in reptiles such as snakes and turtles.
In other cases, explained the museum, "Turtles are found with two heads side-by-side. In others, turtles may have two heads protruding from opposite ends of the body, a difficult situation to be sure." The museum has a live-stream series named "QuaranStream" in which the mutant was screened last Friday. It has been viewed more than five thousand times until today.
It grows facing odds
Experts say that such turtles would have to face many odds by the time it reaches adulthood. Travis Long, a herpetology curator said, "Even with the best of care there are many health hurdles for an animal with this condition," according to Daily Mail. In some cases it might get too late to do anything about it, owing to weakly developed internal organs among other problems.
Long explained that as both heads control its movements, even simple actions such as walking and swimming may get dangerous for such two-headed creatures. "The control of the legs, for instance, appears to be split in half - with the left head seeming to control the left legs, and the right head controlling the right legs," he added.
Suppose they don't figure out working together, its actions could prove dangerous. However, passing these hurdles the museum would do everything to take care of the baby turtle, so that it may live a full life.
