For some, the mere sight of a slithering venomous snake with one head is enough to make their hair stand on end.
But last week, a northern Virginia woman found one in her backyard with two heads.
A state herpetologist brought the snake to the Wildlife Centre of Virginia last Thursday, where it was identified as an extremely rare, two-headed, Eastern Copperhead snakelet.
The heads each have their own trachea and esophagi, but they share one heart and one set of lungs, according to a press release from the Wildlife Centre of Virginia.
Two-headed snakes such as this one are extremely rare, the release continued, because “they just don’t live that long.”
Videos and images of the rare snake were shared on the Facebook page belonging to the Virginia Wildlife Management and Control department, where conspiracy theories quickly abounded.
“Looks fake,” one woman commented on a Facebook photo. “Looks photo shopped right below the heads.”
The department tried to shoot down the claims.
“Absolutely not a fake!” it replied. “All you have to do is watch the video. Can’t give any more proof than that.”
If the snakelet survives, the Wildlife Centre of Virginia said that it will be placed in an education facility.
