Sunday, November 9, 2008

Twin-Turtle Shell Shock - Turtles Blog

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Meet Jekyll & Hyde - extremely rare baby twin turtles - who share a shell and are now being studied by amazed scientists on Long Island.

The conjoined diamondback turtles, barely bigger than a thumbnail, were found 12 days ago at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, said Hofstra University Associate Professor of Biology Russell Burke.

Jekyll & Hyde "is a really weird animal" with six legs, two heads, two tails and one shell, he said.

"You can't look at this guy and not be amazed. He's pretty cool."

Chemical pollution could be responsible for the mutation, but the most likely explanation is "it happened completely naturally - because every reproduction event is a toss of the dice," Burke said.