TWO-HEADED SNAKES—IS IT A MYTH OR FACT?
A two-headed copperhead snake was discovered recently in Woodbridge, Virginia. The snake has a single stomach, but its two heads rarely co-operate.
The snake was collected by Dr. Kleopfer, from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. He was surprised to find the snake in the wild. Two-headed serpents mostly live in captivity. They rarely survive in the wild to adulthood because it is difficult for them to escape from predators.
Two-headed snakes are real. Over the centuries hundreds of two-headed snakes have been reported. Dr. Burghardt of the University of Tennessee has encountered four two-headed snakes in his decades of studying animal behavior.
There are more two-headed serpents than mammals with two heads. Justin Adams of Monash University attributes the incidence of two-headedness to the following factors.
- The fusing of two separate embryos
- Malfunction of the fertilized embryo due to external or genetic factors
According to Dr. Adams, when embryos malfunction in mammals, the mother's body rejects them and the situation self-corrects. If implantation occurs, there is a miscarriage, spontaneous abortion or still birth.
In contrast, reptiles procreate by laying eggs. The self-correcting mechanism is non-existent, and the mother lays many eggs at a time. The probability of hatching a two-headed serpent is much higher.
Secondly, environmental factors are more likely to play a role. The eggs are laid underground and exposed to external factors such as radiation, chemicals, and heat that can affect the developing embryo.
However, there is no way of proving that eternal factors are responsible for two-headedness other than randomness and chance.
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