Curiosity
Two-Headed Turtle born in San Antonio (PHOTO)
Thelma and Louise, a two-headed Texas cooter turtle, is seen in an undated photo provided by the San Antonio Zoo. Zoo officials on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 said the Texas cooter was born June 18. The turtle was one of several Texas cooters born this month at the zoo but the only one with two heads. The unusual turtle will go on display Thursday at the zoo’s Friedrich Aquarium. (AP Photo/San Antonio Zoo)
The San Antonio Zoo recently added quite the oddity to its animal kingdom when a two-headed turtle was born at the facility’s turtle hatchery, reports USA Today.
The new addition is a female turtle known as a Texas cooter and has been nicknamed Thelma and Louise by Zoo staff members. The name was selected as a reference to the popular Gina Davis and Susan Sarandon buddy movie. Zoo officials, who placed Thelma and Louise on public display this week in the Zoo’s Aquarium about two weeks after its birth, say that the turtle appears to be in perfect health, despite its dual heads, and can easily walk and swim without a problem.
San Antonio Zoo officials report that this is not the first time that a two-headed reptile has made its home at the animal facility.
In 1978, the Zoo became the official home to “Janus”, a two-head rat snake that lived there until his death some 17 years later.
Creatures born with two-heads are officially called bicephalic and this condition most commonly occurs in tortoises and snakes when the embryo starts off as twins that are ultimately reconnected into one animal. Kittens, goats and pigs are among the other animals that have been born bicephalic.
A two-headed turtle has hatched at the San Antonio Zoo and officials have named her Thelma and Louise.
(Photo: San Antonio Zoo via AP)
Check out a video of the two-headed turtle below.
On The Web:
10 Two-Headed Animals
http://www.toptenz.net/10-two-headed-animals.php
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/26/two-headed-turtle/2462429/