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Two New Jersey herpetologists, exploring an area known for its wooden rattlesnakes, came across a rare find: a two-headed newborn crawling on the ground.
"I've been blown away, you hear about such things … but it's extremely rare," Schneider News, regional director of Herpetological Associates, Dave Schneider, told AFP on Friday. "It was pretty crazy."
Schneider and his colleague, Dave Burkett, discovered the snake about two weeks ago in the Pine Barrens, a heavily forested area of southern state, after learning that a rattlesnake of the timber trees was coming d & # 39; birth.
As Schneider took pictures of some baby snakes, Burkett noticed the two-headed creature.
The poisonous snake – named "Double Dave" because of his two heads and two Daves who found him – was taken to Pemberton's Herpetological Associates where he will be monitored.
Schneider explained that as the snake had an extra head, it might not have survived long in the wild, explaining that it might have a hard time getting away from predators.
The timber rattlesnakes are an endangered species, herpetological associates had to obtain permission from the state to keep them.
Double Dave, who is about 10 inches long, is doing well and looks healthy. Schneider said that he had noticed that "the two heads were working independently" and that sometimes the snake stiffened because the heads wanted to go in opposite directions.
"But other than that, it's normal," he said. "Up to here everything is fine."
Herpetological associates plan to give Double Dave a x-ray soon to make sure all his organs are functioning properly.
Wood rattlesnakes can live between 20 and 30 years, said Schneider. He hopes Double Dave will also have a long life.
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