Endangered 2-Headed Turtle Spotted on Beach

A team of Florida biologists thought they were seeing double as they watched the recent hatching of a loggerhead turtle.

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“It is rare to find a two-headed turtle, but not unheard of,” Kate Mansfield, assistant professor of the University of Central Florida Marine Turtle Research Group, said of Tuesday's astonishing discovery.

She told InsideEdition.com that their group was observing the endangered loggerhead turtles hatching on a beach in Brevard County when one especially feisty hatchling caught their eye.

“We see a number of developmental abnormalities each year,” she said, adding they had spotted another two-headed turtle on the same beach just last year.

But, what made this particular turtle stand out was how healthy it seemed.

Usually, turtles with birth defects are less active and less likely to make it out to sea.

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When they released this two-headed turtle after observing it briefly, it seemed to have no problem scrambling toward the water.

Although the team did not have the opportunity to run CT scans, Mansfield suspects the turtle has internal defects beyond its two heads, and may not live very long.

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