Two-headed tortoise growing twice as fast as its siblings

A tortoise born with two heads has amazed aquarium staff, after taking advantage of his disability to consume twice as much food as his siblings.

Workers at the Water World aquatic farm at Wuwei town in Anhui, eastern China, were shocked to discover the unusual creature after they ordered a shipment of baby tortoises from a local farm.

Initially they were worried that the tiny 0.6oz (17g) mutant reptile would not survive, but it soon began to overtake its brothers and sisters in size.



Water World spokesman Jimmy Hu said: "We got it two weeks ago and it's growing fast, probably because it can eat twice as fast as the others.

"It was mixed among many other tortoises and we only discovered it this week.

"It's very rare to see a tortoise with two heads, we plan to keep it and raise it carefully for future research."