Mar 6, 2012
Conjoined tortoise twins
This seemingly 2-headed, 6-legged tortoise is on display at the natural science museum in the Ukraine.
“Strictly speaking it isn’t a tortoise with two heads, but rather two conjoined tortoises,” Yuri Yuravliov, a zoologist, told AFP.
“The female has two heads, two hearts, four front legs, but only two hind ones, and one intestine,” he explained….
The two heads are quite different, even in their feeding habits.
The left one is more dominant and active, “prefers green food, while the other prefers more brightly-coloured food — carrots and dandelion flowers,” said Yuravliov.
The tortoise, a species that can live 50 to 60 years, was kept from birth by a Ukrainian in his home, he said.
“Animals with this type of pathology are only rarely born and don’t survive in natural condition.”
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