Ancient Reptile Had Two Heads

[Buck503]

Ancient Reptile Had Two Heads

Scientists have unearthed the fossil of a young, two-headed marine reptile that lived when dinosaurs still walked the Earth.

“My first reaction when I saw that fossil was of the ‘Oh my God!’ type,” said lead researcher Eric Buffetaut of the Center for National Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, France. “It’s something you would not really expect to see, because the chances of such a freak being fossilized are so slim.”

The discovery, detailed in of the Feb. 22 issue of the journal Biology Letters, marks the earliest known occurrence of a well-known birth defect, called axial bifurcation, in living reptiles. This double-noggin phenomenon occurs when an embryo is damaged and some body parts develop twice.

for more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070119/sc_livescience/ancientreptilehadtwoheads

I sure would've liked to seen that.

[Hellonwheels]

I saw a mounted double calf head once.

[kenf]

.....

[Lindox]

It is odd that it survived to become a fossil.
One would think it would have been eaten easily trying to make up it's mind which way to slither.

Double-noggin phenomenon..axial bifurcation. Scientists are really great comedic writers even though they don't realize it.

[Adrian]

You don't have to go back to prehistoric times tofind two heade reptiles, two headed snakes are rare but well documented occurence even today:

"We hear of one every several years," said Gordon Burghardt, a herpetologist at the University of Tennessee who has studied several two-headed snakes.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0318_0319_twoheadsnake.html

Ther are problems for these animals though that means they rarely survive to old age:


there are problems. Snakes operate a good deal by smell, and if one head catches the scent of prey on the other's head, it will attack and try to swallow the second head.

[Juke_spin]

You don't have to go back to prehistoric times tofind two heade reptiles, two headed snakes are rare but well documented occurence even today:



http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0318_0319_twoheadsnake.html

Ther are problems for these animals though that means they rarely survive to old age:
I recognized the two-headed specimen from its photo:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/images/0313_twoheadsnake.jpg

..having considered getting one as a pet in my early teens. Beautiful markings; must make it nicer to look at each other.

[CapnGimp]

you want to see weird, look at the wildlife after Chernobyl...