Rare Two-Headed Diamondback Terrapin Hatchling Found on Cape Cod
This summer, a hatchling diamondback terrapin with two heads was found at a protected nesting area in Cape Cod. On September 17, volunteers from the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary transported the unusual turtle to the Cape Wildlife Center located in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Weighing 5.2 grams, its sex remains unknown, but it is swimming, eating, and exhibiting normal behavior, with the left head displaying a more dominant personality. This marks the third instance of a two-headed terrapin being treated at the center in the past six years. The species is currently under consideration for federal protection, and the Massachusetts subspecies is regarded as threatened due to factors like climate change and coastal development.
Key facts
- A two-headed diamondback terrapin hatchling was found at a protected nesting site on Cape Cod this summer
- Volunteers with the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary discovered the turtle earlier this month
- The turtle was brought to the Cape Wildlife Center in Barnstable, Massachusetts, on September 17
- The hatchling has bicephaly, a congenital condition caused by an embryo not fully separating
- It weighed 5.2 grams at intake, about the weight of a nickel, and its sex is not yet known
- This is the third two-headed diamondback terrapin cared for at the Cape Wildlife Center in six years
- The Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary has seen five on Cape Cod since the early 2000s
- Its fate is undecided: possible release to the wild or permanent captivity
Entities
Artists
- Zak Mertz
- Robyn Rohm
- Margherita Bassi
- Heather McCarron
- Neal Riley
- Sarah Kuta
Institutions
- Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
- Cape Wildlife Center
- New England Wildlife Centers
- Popular Science
- Cape Cod Times
- WBZ-TV
- Cameron Park Zoo
- Smithsonian Magazine
Locations
- Cape Cod
- Massachusetts
- United States
- Barnstable
- Waco
- Texas
- Gulf Coast
- Longmont
- Colorado