JONESBORO (KFSM) — A two-headed snake was spotted near Forrest City on Wednesday (Sept. 6), said Cody Walker, the education program specialist at the Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center in Jonesboro.
Rodney Kelso found the two-headed timber rattle snake while working about three miles north of Forrest City on Highway 284.
The snake is about 11 inches long and was found with two other snakes that looked normal.
Walker said full grown timber snakes, the most venomous snake in Arkansas, can grow longer than four feet and be as wide as an adult human’s arm.
A herpetologist from Arkansas State University’s biology department is scheduled to stop at the nature center to take a look at the snake.
Two-headed snakes have short life spans, especially in the wild, Walker said. The snake is currently living at the Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center in Jonesboro.
He said it is technically two snakes fused together, so with two brains making independent decisions they may not react fast enough when faced with predators.
When a snake embryo doesn’t fully separate, it can result in a two-headed snake. It is unclear if both snakes both eat and digest food.
