Mutant tortoise with two heads and six legs ‘set to outlive every human alive’

2022-08-10

A very creepy-looking mutant tortoise with two heads and six legs could outlive every human currently alive.

According to turtle breeder Ruben van Schoor, the strange beast – which wouldn't look out of place inside the Upside Down universe from Strange Things – has a lifespan of around 150 years.

Speaking of the shock he had when the beast emerged from it shell, he said: “It’s very strange.

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“My girlfriend saw it first and she came to me and showed me.

“I thought ‘oh my god this cannot be possible’ so we looked through the eggs together and then we saw, yeah, it’s really true – two heads.”

Initially, Mr Van Schoor, from Holland, thought the animal was doomed to a short life, but now the tortoise has undergone a CT scan, revealing that both heads share their major organs reducing the odds of a fatal medical complication.

Each head controls two front legs and one back leg, making it fatally slow-moving should a predator attack.

He explained: “I thought ‘okay, this tortoise will be living for a couple of days because it’s not common and there can be some problems.’

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“But now it’s been living for more than two weeks – it seems to be a healthy tortoise.

“The main point is that there’s one tortoise – so it has one set of lungs, one heart, one stomach.

“If it was two then the chance of surviving is lower because they can’t grow, there’s no space.

“But it’s only one tortoise with two heads.”

African spurred tortoises – the third largest tortoise species in the world – can live for up to 150 years, with a typical lifespan being over 70 years.

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It means Ruben, 28, may be outlived by his mutant pet.

He said: “Hopefully I find someone good who can move on with my collection, or they will go to a zoo.

“I think in 100 years wild animals will be very rare so I hope in this way we can keep animals alive.”

This tortoise, named Sorte, has no hope of survival outside of captivity.

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