An adventurous Florida cat brought in an unusual present — a two-headed snake — to her Palm Harbor family.
Kay Rogers explained:
"This day, my daughter sent me a message: 'Mom, she brought in a snake and it has two heads,' " Rogers told WFTS Tampa Bay. "I think this tops it, but she's an adventurous cat, for sure."
Images of the snake were posted this week to the state's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute's Facebook page.
"A rare two-headed southern black racer was recently found at a residence in Palm Harbor by Kay Rogers and family," reads the post.
Rogers and her daughter put the snake in a plastic container while reptile specialists guided Rogers on how to take care of it, USA Today reported.
Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC) said split heads on a single body is known as bicephaly, and it occurs while the snake is developing as an embryo "when two monozygotic twins failed to separate, leaving the heads conjoined onto a single body."
The snake is now in the care of FWC staff. "Two-headed snakes are unlikely to survive in the wild as the two brains make different decisions that inhibit the ability to feed or escape from predators," the FWC said.
Orlando Sentinel
