This unusual golden coin turtle, found in China, appears to be doing just fine.

A businessman from the city of Qingdao says he bought the reptile at an animal market last year.

The turtle’s two heads cooperate well and can even eat at the same time. Its owner says the reptile eats more than one-headed turtles do and has grown over the past year.

The creature most likely developed its unusual anatomy while still in the egg. Its embryo began to split in two, the process that gives rise to identical twins, but then failed to fully separate.

While uncommon, abnormalities caused by incompletely split embryos occur in many animal species, including fish, snakes, rats, cows, even humans, where the phenomenon leads to what are known as Siamese, or conjoined, twins.

(link)

By Sun Tzu on 19-01-2007