A sea turtle patrol accidentally discovered a mutant turtle with two heads lying on the same body on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
“We discovered this newly hatched turtle while patrolling the beach. Compared to other animals, a bipedal mutation is more common in reptiles but it is still very rare, ”said Marine Turtle Patrol. Hilton Head Island wrote in a Facebook post on Aug. 28.
The baby turtle, named Squirt & Crush, is an example of “polycephaly” syndrome in the natural world, where animals have more than one head on the same body. According to experts, the cause may be due to the abnormal division of the embryo during development.
Most bipedal turtles can only survive for a short time due to difficulty moving and feeding. Despite this, the patrol decided to release Squirt & Crush into the ocean. In 2014, a rare case of a two-headed turtle on Mabul Island in eastern Malaysia survived for up to three months in the wild.
New York Post/UPI
