A Chinese man who breeds snakes for a living found a baby two-headed Chinese cobra on his farm in Yulin, southern China, 10 days ago.
Surprised by the unusual find, the breeder initially intended to sell the reptile, figuring it would fetch a tidy sum. However, he soon came to realize that the cobra neither ate nor drank and decided to give the snake to specialists at the Nanning Zoo.
The snake has yet to eat on its own, a Nanning Zoo official said, according to Chinese news site the People's Daily Online (Google Translate provides a decent English translation). It is about 20 centimeters long and has been alive for 10 days, having shed its skin once, the zoo noted.
The second head begins three quarters up the snake's body and can move independently, according to the Daily Mail. In fact, because each head has its own brain, the two halves can move independently. Nanning Zoo experts say that the two heads often come together, as if they are going to fight, but notes that can be attributed to typical cobra movement, so it's only natural that the two heads would butt against each other.
The rare snake could conceivably grow to a typical Chinese cobra length of about 1.2 meters, according to Discovery. However, zoo doctors are unable to determine how much longer the snake could survive if it doesn't begin to eat on its own.
Polycephaly, the condition of having two heads, is most commonly seen among snakes.
While most polycephalic snakes live for only a few months, one two-headed snake allegedly lived for 20 years. So, at the very least, it's too early to count this cobra out.
