Top 10 Rare Two-Headed Animals

In 2018, a turtle was born in south-east China who quickly made headlines. The reason? A condition that we’ll be seeing a whole lot of in this list: polycephaly - meaning that it has two heads. A red-eared slider, it lives in captivity at a wildlife rescue center in Shangrao city in Jiangxi province. As of October 1st, 2018, it appears to be healthy and functional, but experts believe that it is unlikely to enjoy a lifespan as long as most turtles of its species, which can live up to thirty years. There have actually been a number of two-headed turtles found around the world,

In 2012, a resident of Northampton, Massachusetts came across just about the strangest baby bird she’d ever seen - and in her own backyard no less. April Britt found this small creature sitting on the lower branches of a tree, and was undoubtedly shocked when, upon closer inspection, she discovered that it had two heads and THREE beaks. The woman named the little oddity “Beaker” and returned it to a higher branch on two occasions. According to Britt, the various beaks seemed to be poorly formed, with only the middle one appearing to connect to the throat. But after helping it to safety, she says that an adult Cardinal thankfully seemed to be feeding it.

Two-headed turtles might pop up occasionally around the world, but this two-headed porpoise discovered in 2017 was a first. Unfortunately, when Dutch fisherman accidentally caught this strange creature while fishing in the North Sea, it was already dead. Apparently concerned about the legal issues surrounding keeping the body, the fisherman returned it to the water - only after snapping a few pictures, however. Based on the photos, experts were able to suggest that the calf likely died shortly after birth. According to BBC, this was only the tenth example of polycephaly ever observed in whales or dolphins.

Brace yourselves, this story might break your heart. Lucky the polycephalic cow from Kentucky was born in September of 2016. Farmer Stan McCubbin knew that the calf’s chances were slim from the moment that they found her. She reportedly had trouble standing and walking, both due to the weight of her head and the position of her eyes. She required a lot of attention but the McCubbin family were seemingly only too happy to give it. When Lucky made it to 40 days, she became the oldest living cow of her kind. Sadly, she passed away after 108 days, just a week before a planned, community sponsored surgery to repair her cleft palate.

There have actually been a few two-headed goats born in recent years, and each one is more strange to behold than the last. Sadly, like with cows, they are rarely long for this world. In 2016, the Daily Mirror reported a two-headed goat was born to farmer Galymzhan Uteuliev in Kazakhstan. Tragically, despite appearing to be healthy, it was trampled to death just two days after its birth by its own mother, apparently panicked by its strange appearance. In 2014, a two-headed goat born to a farmer in China sparked a bidding war. In 2018, another two-headed goat was filmed in Pakistan, sparking interest around the globe when the video went viral.

There are people out there who collect some rather odd things. But there are few collectors who can hold a candle to Todd Ray, a man whose claim to fame is owning the largest collection of two-headedanimals. A Grammy award-winning producer, Ray had 22 living specimens in his collection as last tallied in 2010 by the Guinness Book of World Records. Among his menagerie is a two-headed bearded dragon, named Pancho and Lefty respectively. But wait… in 2012 he added another two-headed bearded dragon, Jekyll and Hyde. Remember when we were talking about turtles earlier? He’s also the proud owner of the world’s only known THREE-headed specimen - Myrtle, Squirtle, and Thirdle.

Something’s going on in Iceland. While two-headed lambs have appeared in places like Palestine and Utah, in 2009 Iceland saw three two-headed lambs born within a few months of each other. While two of the lambs died of natural causes, one was actually rather healthy except for the fact that it was unable to lift its head from the ground. As a result, it was sadly put down.

According to Daily Mail, in 2016, an adorable little two-headed pig was born in China to a farmer from Luzhou in the south-west of the country’s Sichuan province. The piglet, which appeared relatively healthy at the time of its birth, and has two snouts, two mouths and three eyes, was the subject of many monetary offers. Ultimately the farmer announced his intention to keep the pig for himself as his son had grown attached to the creature. Two-headed pigs aren’t that unheard of in China, but they’re often born with far more serious deformities and rarely live long.

In 2017, a two-headed kitten named Bettie Bee was born in South Africa and promptly taken in by an animal rescuer. Sadly, it passed away after just 16 days. Thankfully, not every two-headed cat is doomed to the same fate. Frank and Louie, also known cumulatively as Frankenlouie, was the longest-living two-faced cat in recorded history, living a long and healthy life from 1999 to 2014.

Two-headed snakes are indeed a rarity, but over the years a number of them have been documented.That includes this Copperhead snake from 2018, which was found a woman in Virginia and photographed by J.D. Kleopfer, who works with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. He’s kind of cute... in a terrifying kind of way.