Genetic Craziness: 10 Two-headed Animals

Two-headed Kitten

This grey and white two-headed feline was born at the Swan Veterinary Clinic in Perth, Western Australia, when its mother was brought in after suffering complications during birth. Veterinarian George Huber and nurse Louisa Burgess assisted the labor. The tiny kitten – smaller than a hand – was one of three born in the litter, although its siblings were not born with any deformities.

The kitten eats out of just one mouth because of a cleft palate, but both its mouths meow simultaneously. Only about one in a million cats are born with two heads, however the deformity is more common among other animals like snakes and turtles.

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Two-headed Gecko

This gecko with a head on each end was found in an antique shop of Huaihua City, Central China's Hunan Province on June 3, 2008. The gecko is about 10 cm long. It crawls slowly and can move towards the opposite direction without turning its head. (Link)

Two-headed Pig

The birth of this two-headed pig in China was hailed as a miraculous conception by farmers since pigs are widely seen as a symbol of fertility in China. Besides, this strange animal was born in 2007, the Chinese Year Of The Pig, so this unique pork was considered to be a blessing. The two-faced pork weighted in at 1.5 kilograms, came with 2 mouths and 4 eyes, and was born in the small village of Quanzhou in East China's Fujian province. (Link)

Two-headed Python

This strange two-headed python was discovered by a team of veterinarians at the zoo in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Both heads operate independently and have the ability to eat. The snake is 25 inches and it uses its right head to control its movements, while the left follows it naturally. In general, a python, living in its natural ecosystem, can measure up to seven meters long and can swallow animals much larger than its own dimensions, killing by suffocation, twining with its own body.

The two-headed python is logically the attraction of the Colombo Zoo in the Tissa region. It is still unclear what the fate of the snake will be. Veterinarians are making tests on it to determine if the anomaly is not threatening its life.

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Two-headed Turtle

This two-headed turtle was found in Florida residing at Sean Casey's Animal Rescue in Kensington, a pet store. Casey, the pet store owner, got the two-headed turtle from a man in Florida who rescued a bunch of eggs after an adult female was killed by a car. When the turtle started to deteriorate the man turned to Sean Casey's Animal Rescue (www.scarnyc .org), a nonprofit organization in Kensington specializing in exotic creatures. Casey nursed it back to health at home, and then brought the tank to his pet store. Usually, such severely deformed turtles die soon after birth, but Casey says this one could live for many years - maybe not to the average age of 75 to 100- although it takes special precautions to keep the oddity safe like feeding each head by hand, because otherwise they fight over the little pellets. Unfortunately the popular pet was ultimately stolen from the pet store. (Link)

Two-headed Crocodile

This unusual pair of two-headed Siamese twin crocodiles was found in 2001 by the staff of a crocodile farm in Thailand.

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Two-headed Cow

This calf with two faces was born in Virginia, US. It has three sets of teeth, two lower jaws and two tongues, but only one mouth; two noses with separate airways, and a single eye socket, which has two eyes in it. The unusual baby animal belongs to Farmer Kirk Heldreth, of Rural Retreat in Virginia, and was named ‘Star'. The two-faced cow was a result of selective artificial insemination, designed to produce the best possible cow. Apart from having two faces, Star appears to be doing well, and the Heldreth family says she has a 'sweet' personality. The condition, known as diprosopus, is an extreme form of conjoined twinning, and occurs when an embryo partially splits – normally forming two partial faces on one body. It could be caused by a genetic abnormality, or a fault during the embryo's development. (Link)

Two-headed Lamb

This two-headed lamb born in Iceland shocked animal experts around the world. The freaky farm animal caused huge surprise in the Olfus region of Southern Iceland when it popped out with two faces. Local vet Pall Stefansson said that two headed lambs are very rare, although he had heard of two similar cases over the years. The lamb survived the night but sadly had to be put down after vets realized it could not raise its head. (Link)

Two-headed Grasshopper

This insect belongs to the Orthoptera order, including grasshoppers, crickets and katydids. The animal has two heads, and the red one is more attractive probably to distract a possible predator from the real one. The picture was taken at an old coffee plantation's farm, in Amaga, state of Antioquia, Colombia. The altitude is 1.400 m above sea level. (Link)

Two-headed Fish

This mutated fish was caught downstream from Alberta's oilsands region. The 2.5-kilogram goldeye caught in Lake Athabasca has two mouths, one beneath the other. Two boys pointed the deformed fish out to Stuart Macmillan, Park Canada's manager of resource conservation at Wood Buffalo National Park, who studied it before handing it over to the Mikesew First Nation. (Link 1 | Link 2)