See The Snake Born With Two Heads And Two Hearts (Photos) | Nigeria Newspaper - Latest Nigeria News paper

21.3.18

See The Snake Born With Two Heads And Two Hearts (Photos)

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See The Snake Born With Two Heads And Two Hearts (Photos)
The two-headed boa constrictor with two hearts
 
Vets have been left baffled after a snake breeder caught a two-headed boa constrictor that has two separate hearts.
 
According to The Sun UK, the two-week-old creature, which appears to be twin snakes in "one outer skin" was featured on a National Geographic programme. Both heads move separately and flick their own tongues.
 
The Floridian breeder took the reptile to vet Dr Lauren Thielen for examination, and an X-ray revealed it has two functioning hearts.
 
Other two-headed creatures have a tendency to have just one set of internal organs.
 
Dr Thielen said: “I was shocked it has two hearts. But it was really cool to understand that the Siamese twin snake was really two snakes in one outer skin.”
 
During the programme Thielen then used non-invasive technology called a doppler ultrasound to further examine it.
 
She tells National Geographic viewers: “We're using the doppler to assess the heart rate of the snake and also to evaluate that, indeed, this snake has two hearts.
 
“It does! Did you hear that?”
 
 
She then jokes: “So, they have a banging circulatory system. It's going to run marathons - slither marathons - this snake is.”
 
The machine allowed veterinarians to listen to the two individual heartbeats and confirm that the animal really does have a pair of the organs, which are both pumping blood within the body.
 
The doppler ultrasound also enabled the doctors track the animals' internal blood flow.
 
Dr Thielen said she had never seen a two-headed boa before.
 
The case is rare, but other instances of two-headed snakes have been recorded.
A two-headed albino Honduran milk snake called Medusa was previously featured on National Geographic.
 
The snake was filmed eating for the first time.
 
Some two-headed creatures end up competing for food, but while one of Medusa's two heads started to consume a dead mouse, the other watched the spectacle calmly.
 
 
The creature seemingly swallowed the dead mouse without any issues.
 
Another unique trait of the two-headed boa Dr Thielen examined is the creature's two digestive tracts.
 
National Geographic said the two-headed boa was probably caused by an embryo that ceased to split after beginning to do so to create twins.
 

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