A Two-Headed Turtle? Virginia Living Museum Adopts Creature With 'Polycephaly'

The Virginia Living Museum has a new and unique resident, adopting a rare two-headed turtle.

The turtle, which was identified as a red-eared slider turtle, was discovered by a resident in Williamsburg, Virginia, shortly after it hatched a few weeks ago. The resident took the turtle to the Virginia Living Museum shortly after to receive the care it needs because of its unique condition, called polycephaly.

Travis Land, the museum’s herpatology curator, spoke about the condition in a Facebook live stream.

“Like you would have during the formation of twins, during that process [things] can go wrong and there’s a couple of different ways that can happen,” Land said.

Land added that while the condition is rare, turtles are amongst the animals most likely to fall victim to it. This is due to the “complicated” nature of its development while still inside an egg.

However, Land said chance plays a greater role in a turtle developing polycephaly than just genetics.

Something else about the turtle that felt pulled from science fiction is that the two heads are unique to each other and show certain traits that help distinguish them individually. Land said left head appeared to be the more dominant head while the right head showed more curiosity at its surroundings, but the two will need to learn to work together if it is to survive as each head seems to control the limbs on that side of the body.

Land warned that even with the right care, the health challenges the turtle faces could be too much.

“Even with the best of care there are many health hurdles for an animal with this condition,” Land said.

“So we’re going to do the best we can here and hopefully be able to have this guy around for a while to come.

“Sometimes it's not even something that can be detected until the animal gets older, and even then it might be too late to do anything about it – such as weakly developed internal organs. If there are any other abnormalities, we most likely won't know about them until they get a little older.”

The turtle can be viewed on the museum’s coronavirus lockdown live stream.