Jakarta –
An image shared by Cape Cod New England Wildlife Centers shows a terrapin hatchling, a species of kura-kura, born with two heads, and six legs supporting his body. The wildlife center calls this the case rare the first they found.
“We were surprised to see it because there has never been anything like it,” said New England Wildlife Centers CEO Katrina Bergman, quoted by the Washington Post, Wednesday (10/13/2021).
The two terrapin heads in one shell were taken to Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA, a wildlife hospital and education center for the local natural resources department that has a special terrapin care program.
They arrived at the facility on September 22 and hatched in a protected nesting site a few days earlier. In Massachusetts, the diamond shell terrapin is listed as an endangered species.
Bicephaly, or the condition of having two heads, is an anomaly that can be caused by genetic and environmental factors. The animals often do not survive long or have a poor quality of life.
“The first thing we want to know: are they going to live and survive? And the second is: how is their quality of life? We judge by how they grow, when they eat, do they swim, do they both look for air?” Bergman said.
X-rays showed that they had separate digestive tracts, and that they could each digest food. They can also gain weight. Bergman says they arrived weighing 6.5 grams and now weigh 7 grams. They also have two respiratory systems.
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Foto: New England Wildlife Centers– |
Much is still unknown about these terrapins, and one expert predicts that they may not have lived very long. But Bergman describes most of the signs that these terrapins are showing are positive.
“They are eating really well, they are so cute. Everyone is excited because they seem in great shape. The only thing we are worried about is, we are afraid they will be in pain. But as far as we know, they look like happy babies.” .
Bergman calls them the size of chicken nuggets and have grown more than an inch since they arrived at the New England Wildlife Centers. They perform a series of tests, including CT scans to assess their internal organs and circulatory system.
If it seems that the terrapin can survive, says Bergman, the wildlife center he leads can continue to monitor and care for it, and keep it for research. It is highly unlikely that these hatchlings will be released into the wild.
Willem Roosenburg, a terrapin population ecologist, said this was probably the first case of two terrapins being born with one shell, although he had heard of bicephaly in other turtle species.
“From a biological perspective, I think it’s important to recognize that these are mutations that won’t survive in the wild,” said Roosenburg, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Ohio.
If healthy, a terrapin can live for decades. Roosenburg says he has a 34-year-old pet terrapin, one of more than 50,000 he has worked with. He would not be surprised if there were terrapins living to the age of 80 in a healthy population.
But Roosenburg hesitated terrapin this two-headed man could live that long. He also said he did not know why such a mutation could occur in the turtle species.
“I’ve seen hatchlings born without heads into anencephaly. There’s only the possibility of a birth defect in any population of organisms that has it. I think it’s something similar,” he explained.
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