“Woman Finds Two-Headed Snake in Her Garden”

It sounds like something straight out of a science fiction movie. A woman tending her garden in Virginia found a two-headed copperhead snake. The creature was reportedly in a flowerbed and has since become a social media sensation.

Copperheads are venomous and belong to the viper family. Two-headed or bicephalic snakes are exceedingly rare and do not live long in the wild. Fortunately, this snake was very young and only 6” in length.

Experts with the state’s department of wildlife have determined that the left head is more dominant than the right and it shares a single heart & one set of lungs. The creature is being cared for by a herpetologist and may eventually end up in a zoo exhibit.

Although rare, this is certainly not the first time a two-headed snake has been found in the United States. In June of 2018, a family in Louisiana found a two-headed western rat snake in their backyard. The nonvenomous snake measured 12” long and was later adopted. In September of 2017, a utility worker in Arkansas found a two-headed timber rattlesnake at his jobsite. The man was able to corral the 11” venomous pit viper into a box and take it to a state nature center.

The result of a genetic mutation, this phenomenon known as polycephaly may have inspired such ancient fables as the Hydra in Greek mythology – a serpent-like monster with nine heads that lived in a lake. Scientists now know that the anomaly is similar to that of conjoined twins in humans.

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