News
Greg Evans
Sep 24, 2018
For anyone who suffers from ophidiophobia, look way now.
An extremely rare and terrifying two-headed copperhead snake has been found in a woman's back garden in the US state of Virginia.
If that wasn't scary enough, it's also highly venomous. OK, we're not scared of snakes but even we're a little concerned now.
The 'long mover' was discovered by a woman named Stephanie who reported the snake's presence to the Virginia Wildlife Management and Control's Facebook page.
In the post, she asked 'what are the odd to find a two-headed snake???'
Once she had gotten in touch with the authorities, the snake was evaluated by experts and identified as a wild bicephalic snake.
In separate Facebook posts, herpetologist John D Kleopfer noted that snakes of this kind are really rare and "don't live too long".
He also explained that while the left head is the "dominate oesophagus" the "right head has the more developed throat for eating".
The snake is now in the care of an experienced snake keeper and they eventually hope to donate it to a zoological facility for exhibition purposes.
Although we've already mentioned that snakes of this kind are venomous, they aren't considered aggressive or a danger to humans. as they only tend to prey on insects.
This snake is also very small and is only 6 inches long, but copperheads can grow to the size of 18-36 inches.
National Geographic added that species like this are not unlike human Siamese twins:
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.
HT Mashable
More: Man on mobility scooter seen 'fighting' with snake in viral image
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