A North Carolina guy with snake-raising experience recently welcomed a two-headed Honduran albino milk snake into the world.
According to Jimmy Mabe of CBS affiliate WGHP in High Point, the snake has two distinct personalities, one of which looks to be more dominant than the other.
"The right side is more aggressive than the left," Mabe explained. "It wants to bite me even more."
A Snake with Two Different Personalities
AFP PHOTO / KATYA ABRAMKINA via Getty Images
Jeff Beane, herpetology collections manager at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, told Newsweek that he has seen a few two-headed snakes, but it is a relatively rare occurrence.
"They typically behave differently because they have different brains," Beane said. "One is stronger than the other."
He explained that they can't do much to each other except try to crawl in opposite directions or feed on the same thing.
Snakes born with two heads rarely survive in the wild, and even in captivity, a two-headed snake has a shorter lifespan than a snake with just one head.
According to the Alexandria Zoo in Louisiana, Honduran milk snakes are generally found under decaying logs or stumps. They consume other snakes, lizards, and small animals while being non-venomous.
According to the zoo, they employ rapid, jerky movements that cause their bands to flash, alarming predators. Mabe also said the two-headed snake shares lungs and a stomach, but their brains don't always agree.
This is not the first time an animal has been born with two heads
A baby African spurred tortoise with two heads was born and is expected to live a healthy life. It had two heads, four front legs, and one set of internal organs when it was born.
A Nebraska guy was performing yard work when he discovered a garter snake with two heads as he raised a wood near a fire pit.
He contacted the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and passed the snake over to a herpetologist in the college's department of natural resources.
Another two-headed snake has been discovered in the wild.
A snake rescuer was requested to pick up the snake from a man who discovered it in his garden.
The formation or creation of a new character or trait is the result of mutation.
This new trait could be beneficial or harmful, as per Biology Online.
Mutations are important in evolutionary terms because they introduce new features into a population, modify allele frequencies, and entail changes in DNA sequences.
The genetic information that defines base pairs is carried by the DNA in the genes. This, in turn, specifies the amino acid sequence of a polypeptide or protein during mRNA transcript translation.
Proteins are one of the most important macromolecules with several activities.
Some of them are structural components, while others are enzymes.
When their structure is disrupted, they may be unable to function properly, which can lead to catastrophic consequences such as hereditary illnesses and syndromes.
A mutant is an organism, gene, or chromosome that differs from the wild type owing to mutation(s).
The creature might pass on the new characteristic to future generations if it carries the mutation.
Animals with extra body parts, such as two-headed snakes, four-legged ducks, and a cyclops kitten, are examples of mutations.
These types of mutations frequently result in the animal's death shortly or a few days after birth.
Genetic disorders in humans are frequently caused by a mutation involving an altered gene or chromosomal aberration.
Sickle-cell disease, for example, arises when the 20th nucleotide of the gene for the beta chain of hemoglobin on chromosome 11 is altered from GAG to GTG, causing the 6th amino acid to be valine rather than glutamic acid when translated.
