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A Two-Headed Baby Turtle Hatched on Cape Cod. Here’s the Real Story
· Cape Cod, Mass.
A baby diamondback terrapin hatched with two heads at a protected nesting site on Cape Cod, Mass., in September 2026. It’s called bicephaly: an embryo likely starts to split like twins but never fully separates. Published estimates put it at about 1 in 100,000 hatchlings. Its caretakers say it’s eating and gaining weight. They don’t know yet whether each head steers one side.
The bigger story
Diamondback terrapins are threatened in Massachusetts. Foxes, raccoons and skunks raid their nests, nesting females get hit by cars, and nest temperature even helps decide whether hatchlings are male or female. This little turtle came from a nest people protect. Mass Audubon volunteers check those nests twice a day.
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Music: "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/