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Meet 'Double Dave', the two-headed snake

Double-Dave-two-headed-snake.Image source, David Schneider, Herpetological Associates
Image caption,

This is Double Dave the two-headed snake

A two-headed baby rattlesnake has been found in a forest in the US state of New Jersey.

This kind of snake is really rare - it was spotted and taken in by an environmental group and they've called him Double Dave.

Dave has two fully-formed heads, four eyes and two flickering tongues - which work independently of each other.

Two-headed snakes have separate brains and heads but one body, which is caused by a deformity when they're developing in the egg.

Environmentalist David Schneider said "It would be pretty difficult for this snake to survive in the wild", so he and his team took Double Dave in.

A family in Louisiana, in the US, have also adopted a two-headed snake they've called Fil茅 and Gumbo.

What is polcephaly?

Polycephaly means having more than one head.

The condition is very rare but can occur in animals and humans.

In ancient Greek mythology, there are lots of stories of many-headed creatures. But in reality only two or three-headed animals have ever been found.

Two-headed animals are called bicephalic or dicephalic and three-headed animals are tricephalic.

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Two-headed snake is family's new pet

Tanee Janusz was given the Western Rat snake by a friend who found it in his backyard, and her family decided to keep it.