Two-Headed Viper Found in Kheri- This is a Siamese twins not evolution

Two-Headed Viper

Two-Headed Snake Found- This is a Siamese twins not evolution 

23-07-2006

The hypothesis of Sheshanaga (thousands of Heads in one snake) may be true……………………….

The two-headed Devils of myth may have a basis in reality. Two-headed snakes are rare but not unheard of, and one recently found in Mirpur village of Kheri district Uttar Pradesh India is giving me an opportunity to study how the anomaly affects their ability to hunt, forage and mate.

The snake in India, discovered in agricultural field near the village of Mirpur, is two or three month old deadly venomous Russell’s viper Daboia russelii. It is about twelve inches long. It’s probably lucky it was captured- its chances of surviving in the wild are nil but in the custody of villagers it is not possible because they have no any experience of animal rearing.

You may think about feeding, mating and hunting behavior of two-headed viper when the snake has two nervous systems in single body. Just observing them(two heads) feed, Often fighting over which head will swallow the prey, shows that feeding takes a good deal of time, during which they would be highly vulnerable to predators. They also have a great deal of difficulty deciding which direction to go, and if they had to respond to an attack quickly they would just not be capable of it.

The eggs of hen is the main food of this captured snake given by villagers, Eating is very slow due to fight of each head for seeking food.

And that's assuming that both heads are hungry at the same time, and both are interested in pursuing the same prey.

Even in captivity, 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. 

Two-headed snakes typically occur in the same way that Siamese twins do. A developing embryo begins to split into identical twins but then stops part way, leaving the twins joined. Among humans, 75 percent of conjoined twins are stillborn or die within 24 hours.

Each head of two headed snake would be highly individual because each head has its own brain with one spinal cord. It will be interesting how and whether the two heads cooperate in targeting and capturing prey, and what role two brains play in regulating hunger and mediating other behaviors.

The Russell’s viper belongs to order Squamata and family Viperinae, which is found in Asia throughout the Indian subcontinent, much of Southeast Asia, southern China and Taiwan. It is the senior member of the big four venomous snakes in India.

After reading the literature I found that the two-headed Russell’s Viper is not recorded in world, while other species of double headed snakes have been found in Honduras, USA, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Spain.

The two-headed snake of Kheri died on 27 July 2006 in the captivity of Villagers.

= Viper has thick body up to 5 feet long, head is large, flat, and covered with small scales, nostrils are lateral, eyes are far forwards, there is a sensory pit between the eyes and the nostril in some, pits are sensory organs with which the snake can detect its prey. The scales on the body are keeled. Tail is short and tapers abruptly. The Indian Russell’s viper has enlarged nostrils unlike other vipers, It is pale brown above with three longitudinal series of black rings, each ring is bordered with white, ventrally it is yellowish. Scales on the head are small and keeled. In viper the maxilla is small and bears long, movable fangs (poisonous teeth) with canals, the fangs are erected for biting and folded back against the roof of the mouth when not in use. Vipers are nocturnal, in biting it opens its mouth very wide and strikes like lightning, thursting its long fangs, the poison is deadly. Vipers are viviparous and are found in Indian subcontinent, other vipers have species in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Krishna Kumar Mishra

Wildlife Conservationist& nature Photographer

77 Canal Road Shiv Colony Lakhimpur Kheri-262701

Uttar Pradesh, India