Prepare to be sssssshocked by Virginia Wildlife Management and Control's bizarre find.
The bureau shared photos of an unusual snake they recovered from a Woodbridge backyard on Facebook, and now the entire internet is doing a double-take.
This eye-catching copperhead specimen is actually a copperheads, since it has two noggins that meet at its "neck" on one slithery body.
The bizarre beastie was discovered last week and safely removed by the wildlife agency, who couldn't resist flaunting their "rare" find.
In a video for National Geographic, veterinarians examining a two-headed boa constrictor call it a "one in a million, one in 10 million" find.
Although, being born with two heads (called polycephaly) is actually more common in snakes than other species of animals.
For simplicity's sake, think of the snake as something like a pair of conjoined twins.
They developed from one fertilized egg that split, but not completely, resulting in a pair of imperfect "twins" that share most of their organs.
State biologists say the snake has two brains, and two sets of venom-filled jaws, but only one stomach.
They even shared video of the creature in motion, to quash rumors that the entire thing was just a prank.
This is actual video of the "2 headed" copperhead snake that we posted about, in Woodbridge, Virginia, yesterday. If you have any wildlife, reptile, bee, wasp or hornet issues, contact us anytime day or night at 804-617-7086 we're on call 24/7 WWW.VIRGINIAANIMALCONTROL.COM #SnakeRemovalVirginia #SnakeRemovalRichmond #SnakeRemovalHenrico #SnakeRemovalPowhatan #SnakeRemovalChesterfield #SnakeRemoval #Copperhead #Snake #WildlifeRemovalVirginia #AnimalControlVirginia #WildlifeControl #VirginiaWildlifeManagementAndControl #VirginiaWildlife
Posted by Virginia Wildlife Management and Control on Monday, September 17, 2018
Biologists and herpetologists (reptile experts) say two-headed snakes really do have two personalities.
In captivity, they're known to "fight" each other for food (even if they both digest it) and have even been seen trying to eat their other heads.
Even though one "snake" is not much more than a head joined to its twin's body, it seems they both try and decide which way they'll move.
Because of the many complications posed by having two heads, polycephalic snakes don't usually survive to adulthood outside of captivity.
So the lucky ones in this story are actually the two snakes, and everyone who got to learn about them, not the wildlife bureau workers who took the pictures.
[H/T: 13 News Now, Charlotte Observer, Gizmodo]
