A tiny two-headed diamondback terrapin, weighing just 5.2 grams, turned up at a protected nesting site in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and is now under veterinary watch at a Cape Cod wildlife center.
The Cape Wildlife Center in Barnstable shared a photo of the bicephalic hatchling on Facebook Thursday, drawing immediate attention to what the center called an uncommon but not unprecedented find. The baby terrapin has two fully formed heads and, according to the veterinary team, both sides appear healthy and functional so far.
Diamondback terrapins are classified as a threatened species in Massachusetts, which makes the discovery at a protected nesting site in Wellfleet, a small town on the outer arm of Cape Cod, all the more notable for the wildlife professionals tracking the species.
This is not the first time the Cape Wildlife Center's veterinary team has encountered a two-headed turtle. The center has handled two other bicephalic turtles over the past five years, making this hatchling the third such case on their watch.
The center acknowledged as much in a statement shared alongside the photo, as CBS News Boston reported:
"While we've encountered this unusual condition before, every case gives us another opportunity to learn more about these fascinating animals' anatomy and physiology."
What happened to the two prior bicephalic turtles, whether they survived, were released, or died in care, has not been disclosed publicly.
The center's veterinary team said it plans to keep a close eye on the hatchling's appetite, growth, and behavior. In a lighthearted aside, the center's statement noted staff are monitoring "this little one's (two's?) appetite, growth, and behavior closely."
Zak Mertz, CEO of New England Wildlife Centers, the parent organization connected to the Cape Wildlife Center, offered an upbeat early report on the hatchling's condition.
"What I've heard from the vet team is that they are behaving normally, and both sides are looking very good."
Mertz added:
"We're looking forward to learning everything we can about these two young turtles."
At 5.2 grams, the hatchling is roughly the weight of a nickel. Bicephaly, the condition of having two heads, occurs in reptiles more often than in mammals, though it remains rare enough that each documented case draws scientific interest. The cause in this particular turtle has not been identified.
The Barnstable facility has built a track record of handling offbeat animal cases. In 2022, the center took in a coyote pup that a local family had mistaken for a lost puppy. The year before that, veterinarians performed foot surgery on a goose, reportedly while the bird's mate watched. And just last year, the center helped a screech owl found inside someone's bathroom in Barnstable.
None of those cases involved a threatened species, though. Diamondback terrapins occupy coastal salt marshes and tidal flats along the eastern seaboard, and their numbers in Massachusetts have declined enough to earn a formal threatened designation from the state. The Wellfleet nesting site where the hatchling was found sits within that fragile habitat.
How the hatchling was discovered, who found it, and how it was transported to the Barnstable center have not been detailed publicly. The center's statement focused on the animal's condition and the veterinary team's monitoring plan, leaving the logistics of the rescue unreported.
A threatened species producing a rare two-headed hatchling on protected land, and a small wildlife center quietly doing the work to keep it alive, that is the kind of story that does not need a political angle to remind people what stewardship actually looks like.
