The World Aquarium at St Louis, Missouri, USA, recently lost one of its main attractions. The 8-year-old, albino, two headed snake named ‘We’, which was one of the museum’s big attractions died in June, of natural causes.
The snake was an inch thick and 4 feet long. Its body was white and the heads had a reddish appearance. Officials at the aquarium said that a taxidermist was preserving We's body.
Scores of visitors who have been making a trip to the aquarium mainly to see the two-headed snake would now have to be satisfied with the display of ‘We’ as a preserved specimen.
The aquarium had purchased the snake for $15,000 just after she was born. ‘We’ survived because, unlike some two-headed animals, both mouths in this case were connected to the same stomach. Interestingly, the snake had both male and female genitalia. Last year the aquarium tried to auction off the rare reptile to raise money for research and conservation programs, and was hoping to get $150,000. But the sale was later withdrawn on legal grounds.
‘We’, though an interesting rarity, was not one of its kind. Late last year, scientists have found what is thought to be the first example of a two-headed reptile in the fossil record.
The abnormal animal, belonging to a group of aquatic reptiles, was unearthed in northeastern China and dates to the time of the dinosaurs.
Two-headed snakes have regularly been cited and captured in many parts of the world. There are also recorded existence of a two headed sheep, pig, dog, cat and even a bird. But apart from conjoined twins, the most commonly observed two-headed animals are tortoises and snakes.
How does science explain the anamoly?
The condition of having more than one head is known as Polycephaly.
Though mythological stories have characters with multiple heads (Ravana had ten heads!), in the real world, bicephalic— or two headed animals— are the only type of Polycephalic creatures that exist.
Two-headed snakes and other animals typically occur in the same way that Siamese twins do. A developing embryo begins to split into identical twins but then stops part way, leaving the twins joined.
The point at which the embryo stops separating varies. Just as Siamese twins can be joined at the head, breast, or hip, so too can snakes be joined at varying places on their bodies.
In the wild, polycephalic animals usually do not survive very long. Since each head of the animal has its own brain, the animal often move in a disoriented and dizzy fashion, with the brains ‘arguing’ with each other. Some animals simply zig-zag, without getting anywhere.
Since they have a great deal of difficulty deciding which direction to go, they cannot catch a prey. Nor can they respond fast enough to escape from a predator.
Even in captivity, there are problems. Snakes operate a good deal by smell, and if one head catches the scent of prey on the other’s head, it will attack and try to swallow the second head!
