'Why Do There Always Have to be Snakes?' Dept.

If you merely turn over enough rocks, you can find anything. Even a two headed rattlesnake:

Chris McAllister, a visiting professor of biology at Angelo State University in San Angelo, said he found the snake after turning over 400 to 500 rocks last month at a Christoval-area ranch, where he and students were scouring for interesting specimens.

While two-headed rat snakes and king snakes are relatively common, a two-headed rattler is not, McAllister said.

The tiny Western diamondback rattler, about as thick as an adult human finger, was less than a foot long and appeared to be a month old, he said. The heads were fused at the neck and functional, although the left head seemed to be the more dominant.

Both tongues flicked out of the mouths, and all four eyes were open, he said. Each head had a full set of fangs, but the snake didn't try to strike at him.

Mighty neighborly of the snake, but it had its price.

In fact, it was lethargic and refused to eat so he euthanized it, he said.

McAllister discovered it had two hearts, two gall bladders, two tracheae and a divided liver.

Because we are trained in translating high falutin' English into everyday American, we want you to understand that we believe the phrase "so he euthanized it" actually means, "so he killed its sorry ass." At least, that's what we would do when confronting a rattlesnake of either one- or two-head varieties. How else can you determine whether it has a divided liver?