An anomalous tortoise with two heads and six paws is currently on display in the natural history museum in Kyiv.
Although the tortoise is five years old, this is the first time it’s been shown to the public.
Such mutations are extremely rare in nature. They happen when two embryos end up in one egg. Having limited space for growth, they merge at a certain stage of their development, biologists say.
A similar tortoise was discovered in Slovakia last year. It had two heads and five paws.
In the wild, such Siamese tortoises have an extremely short lifespan. This particular reptile was able to survive this long because it received good care from zoologists, the exposition’s organizers say.
The tortoise has a heart-shaped shell and two hearts and stomachs inside it. But there is just one intestine, they say.
The two heads of the tortoise think independently from each other, and sometimes try to pull the common body in the shell in opposite directions.
“They even have different food preferences,” said Yuriy Zhuravlev, the exhibition’s curator. “The left head likes green leaves more, while the right one does not like eating leaves at all, preferring carrots and sweet pepper.”
When the Kyiv Post reporter went to see the unusual tortoise, the reptile was missing from its cage. The organizers said that it became a little sick, and removed it from display for a little while, but promised it should be back shortly.
It will stay on display through April 20, along with a range of other, more common, reptiles such as snakes and lizards.
Visitors are allowed to stroke some reptiles and take a picture with them at an extra cost.
Live Dragons exhibition
Open: Daily from 11 am to 8 pm
Admission fee: Hr 15-40, free for kids below 3
Taking photo and video: Hr 50.
Where: Science History Museum in Kyiv
Address: 5 Bohdana Khmelnytskogo, near metro Teatralna
Phone: 451-50-90
More info on: www.ekzoland.com.ua
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at onyshkiv@kyivpost.com
