You’ve probably heard the saying that two heads are better than one. But is this always the case?  What if the two heads are attached to the same body? That might cause a few problems instead. But isn’t the idea of a person or animal with two heads straight out of a science fiction movie?  Nope, it can really happen. Here’s how…

Sometimes, an organism (this could be an animal or even a human being) is born as an identical twin. Babies are created in their mother’s womb when a sperm (a male sex cell) joins with an egg (a female sex cell). After the egg is fertilised (an egg and sperm join), the egg starts to divide. Usually, the egg divides to create one embryo (a group of cells that will develop into a baby). But sometimes, it splits to form two identical embryos. These embryos typically develop into separate identical twins. Every once in a while something goes wrong in the division process though, and it doesn’t complete properly. As a result, some twins are still joined together when they are born (this is called “conjoined”). They even share certain organs, such as a heart. Sometimes the twins can be separated by surgery and go on to live normal lives. Other times they can’t and must live as best they can as conjoined twins.

What does all this have to do with a two-headed turtle? Animals can be born as conjoined twins as well as humans. When this happens in natures, the twins rarely survive. But if a human cares for them, they can live to a ripe old age. That’s just what’s happening in an aquarium store in Pennsylvania. An aquarium collector brought a conjoined, two-headed turtle into the aquarium store. It is a species (type) of turtle called a red-eared slider. It is only three months old and is still very tiny, even though it has two heads. With proper care, the little fellow (or fellows) can live to be 20 years old.  The aquarium store hasn’t given the turtle a name yet. I guess they are still trying to decide if they should give it two names or one!