Scientists have published a photo of a rare sea turtle hatchling with two heads that was spotted on a South Carolina beach earlier this week.
In a post on its Facebook page Wednesday, the Sea Turtle Patrol Hilton Head Island watchdog noted that they “thought we had seen it all during this very busy season” but that “yesterday on patrol during a nest inventory this bicephalic hatchling was discovered”.
“This mutation is more common in reptiles than in other animals but it is still very rare. As with other live hatchlings found during a nest inventory, this hatchling was released to the ocean. Good luck to Squirt and Crush!,” the researchers added, in an apparent nod to sea turtles from Disney and Pixar's Finding Nemo.
The discovery comes after interns at the University of Central Florida's Turtle tracked a baby loggerhead turtle with two heads in 2017, tweeting that the hatchling was “alive and energetic” when they found it.