Two-headed tortoise found in South Africa

http://www.ananova.com ^ | Thursday 29th May 2003 | http://www.ananova.com

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Two-headed tortoise found in South Africa

A South African man has found a two-headed tortoise.

Noel Daniels, a welder of Wellington, says the under side of its shell is flat, instead of rounded.

"But the tortoise is normal and both heads feed on leaves, grass and softened rabbit pellets," he said.

"When the tortoise gets a fright, the heads each want to move in its own direction, and then the feet get all tangled up."

Mr Daniels is keeping the tortoise in his back yard, with seven orphaned tortoises who live with his budgies and pigeons in a dovecote.

Tortoise expert Dr Ernst Baard, of Cape Nature Conservation, says two-headed tortoises are most unusual.

He knows of only one other such tortoise. Dr Baard says the animal might be the product of a genetic deviation during the development of the embryo.

He believes the tortoise has a better chance of survival in Daniels's yard than in nature, saying: "With proper love and care its chances are not too bad, but I doubt if it will survive into adulthood."

[CFC__VRWC]

All we need to find out now is how global warming ties into this. And of course it goes without saying that this is somehow George W. Bush's fault.