Seeing this would surely make you do a double take.
A rare two-headed turtle was discovered on Edisto Beach State Park in Colleton County, SC last week.
NBC affiliate WXII 12 News reports how members of the Edisto Beach State Park sea turtle patrol (yes, that’s a real thing) were conducting a routine nest inventory when they came upon the tiny, double-noggin sea creature.
“Three to five days after a sea turtle nest shows signs of a major emergence, we dig down to determine the success of the nest by counting the hatched eggs, unhatched eggs and, on occasion, also find live hatchlings,” explains a post on the South Carolina State Parks’ Facebook page.
The post continues, “While performing an inventory this past Wednesday, patrollers and volunteers found three alive loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings still in the chamber, but one hatchling in particular stood out because it had two heads!”
As with all of nature’s stranger moments, the South Carolina State Parks Facebook post states how the formation of the two-headed turtle stemmed from a genetic mutation. It also says that, while the discovery of these double-headers have been documented throughout South Carolina in previous years, this is the first time such a specimen was found at Edisto Beach State Park.
The phenomenon of having two heads certainly isn’t exclusive to turtles: Animal Planet educates inquiring minds on the science behind this occurrence—known as “polycephaly”—and how it may also be found in other members of the reptile family.
(Animal Planet additionally notes that sometimes the heads protrude from opposite sides of the reptile’s body, which definitely can’t make life any easier.)
All of the hatchlings were released into the sea, two-headed turtle included.