Wildlife volunteers in Gujarat’s Dahod district rescued a two-headed wolf snake, reported as the first such case in the state and the fifth recorded in India.
Members of the Prakruti Mitra Mandal group were alerted by local residents and handed the snake to the Forest Department, The New Indian Express reported. The two heads appeared to function independently, while the animal had a single body.
Rescuers estimated the snake to be about six months old. They described such cases as exceptionally rare, estimating that they occur in roughly one in a million snakes. That frequency is the group’s estimate, rather than a verified population study.
The group said four similar cases had previously been documented in India, making this the fifth reported nationally. The New Indian Express identified the rescued animal as a non-venomous wolf snake.
A two-headed body can make movement, hunting and feeding more difficult, according to the report. The source also lists possible developmental explanations cited in Indian media, but does not establish which, if any, applies to this snake.