Can mammals also be hermaphroditic? How do two-headed snakes, which may have one male and one female, live and reproduce?

Among many animals, there is one extremely special type of snake, they can be hermaphroditic, and this type of snake is called a two-headed snake. So, how do such snakes that share two heads of one body live and reproduce?

A special group of reptiles, the two-headed snake

When it comes to what are the older creatures on earth, snakes can be one of them, their vitality is very tenacious, but it is such ancient creatures, but there is still a relatively low survival rate of the group - of two-headed snakes. The two-headed snake, as the name implies has two heads. Its formation is the same as that of other conjoined creatures, resulting from genetic mutations in identical twins.

In simple terms, a double-yolked egg is affected by environmental factors during its development, resulting in a genetic mutation and the formation of a conjoined fetus. For example, if a double-yolked egg is exposed to a large number of chemicals or fertilizer or pesticide contamination during the development of the egg, then a genetic mutation will occur.

So why is the two-headed snake so rare?

This is the same as the human twin conjoined twins, because after the genetic mutation, the instability of the genetic chain, may at any time lead to chain breakage, and then die young, which is often said to have a low survival rate. Some of you may be curious, is the two-headed snake poisonous? If it is poisonous, will the toxicity be doubled? This question is related to the mutation of the snake species, that is, whether there is poison from the genes of its mutated individuals.

For example, the double-headed cobra is a mutated individual cobra, so it develops into a double-headed cobra. So to know whether the toxicity will double, we must first understand that the snake's venom glands are generally on both sides of the head, behind the eyes, and above the corners of the mouth, all concentrated in the head. Then it can be deduced that if it is a double-headed viper, the amount of venom is doubled.

Usually, such a two-headed snake can survive up to five days to a week, of course, there is also the longest survival time, reaching seventeen years. As a reptile, if these two snake heads try to move in opposite directions, there is a definite risk of splitting if both heads are working hard, which in turn leads to death.

Despite having two heads, one of the snake heads is very sensitive for safety reasons, while the other one is not, and they can only rely on the other one with sensitive nerves for navigation during crawling.

How do two-headed snakes feed in life?

So, how exactly does this two-headed snake feed? Some people have done this experiment to find out this problem, letting the two-headed snake at the same time to eat, which is very easy to choke. Because the two heads in both eating will appear to swallow too much food, extremely easy to jam the throat caused by suffocation.

In the two-headed snake group, some two-headed snakes only share a stomach, two snake heads at the same time in eating, not only easy to choke but also the stomach is unable to accommodate more food and even the risk of death. At this point, someone may say, "Since we can't eat at the same time, what about letting one head eat food first and then letting the other head eat after a while?"

If this is the case, then the other snakehead will directly attack the snakehead that is eating next to it because of hunger, and will also cruelly try to swallow it. Why would this happen? It is important to know that snakes feed mainly on scent, and the snake head that is not feeding will immediately attack when it smells the scent of food next to the feeding snake head.

Usually, when feeding, two snake heads are fed in succession. Then after feeding, the smell of food is carefully wiped off the snake's head, otherwise after a few hours of digesting the food the snake's head will attack the other snake's head. Although they share a body, there is no dependency between the two snake heads. Therefore, when feeding, an object such as a sheltered partition placed between the two snake heads will allow them to feed well.

Among the two-headed snakes, some share a stomach, but some have their own completely separate esophagus and stomach, and even have their own heart and lungs, as two fused snakes separated at the neck, and shockingly a small percentage of snakes may be one female and one male. Generally, a two-headed snake with one stomach is more difficult to obtain prey than one with two stomachs.

So, why is this? Mainly the control of the head of the snake has a direct relationship.

With two stomachs of two-headed snakes, need to consume more food, the brain receives the signal of hunger in the stomach will be more clear and more sensitive, and under the stimulation of such double hunger information, the brain in the two snake heads will be more eager to find food. Thus, it is easier to detect the prey, and the chances of capturing prey will also be a little higher than the two-headed snake with only one stomach.

Which snake head controls the two-headed snake?

Since it has two snake heads, who is the dominant one? Zoologists have found that two-headed snakes do not give up on each other. One of them sometimes gives control to the other one, and when this one has control and dominance, it sends a command signal to make the other one follow its command.

Why does one of the snakeheads have the dominant position? It is mainly related to their body organs. If a snake head lacks a certain organ, such as the stomach, then it has no dominant position, and can only honestly follow the command of the other snakehead.

If the internal organs of the two snake heads are intact, the dominant position is on the right side, and the left side of the snake head can only obey. However, only the left snake head will dominate in sensitive situations.

In nature, it is very difficult for a two-headed snake to survive for a longer period. In the case of hunting, the two brains will generate prey signals at the same time and transmit the signals to the muscle tissue at the same time, but the two-headed snake's body cannot perfectly cooperate and even produce opposite behavior. It is very difficult to survive.

How does such a special hermaphrodite reproduce?

So do two-headed snakes have offspring? How do they reproduce? We have searched many domestic and international sources on this question, but have not found any studies on such a topic, although one thing that can be said is that two-headed snakes rarely live to the age when they are considered to reproduce, which means that they are dead before they can reproduce. If they do survive in some laboratory through human intervention, it is probably in experimental research abroad.

So let's make a hypothesis, the following is purely personal speculation. With a hermaphroditic two-headed snake, the two sets of developmental organs are mature, and they can reproduce on their own. To do this, I looked for information on animals that reproduce on their own as hermaphrodites. I found that most hermaphroditic creatures require a second of their kind to be fertilized together to reproduce.

The earthworm is closer to the reproduction of the two-headed snake, but the reproductive organs of the earthworm are different from those of the two-headed snake. Therefore, if a two-headed snake wants to reproduce on its own without human interference, firstly, the reproductive organs of the male and female have to be staggered. Secondly, they can mate on their own by curling and twisting themselves. This is the most likely way I can think of for a two-headed snake to reproduce on its own.

If you have more ideas, and brain, you can also leave a message to discuss.

Nowadays, two-headed snakes have been included in the list of wildlife protection in China, because they are very rare in nature, so they are extremely valuable, ornamental value and research value are very high. In recent years, the number of two-headed snakes in China has also declined, so to protect such rare species, I hope we can protect the ecological natural environment and give them a beautiful living habitat.