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Rare two-headed calf dies

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ALDRICH, Mo., March 1 (UPI) -- A Missouri farmer says he is unsure what he will do with the carcass of a rare two-headed calf that died a day and a half after birth.

The brown bull calf was born with two fully formed heads connected to the body just behind the skulls, said Scott Cliff, a farmer in Aldrich.

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"I just couldn't believe it. We've never seen anything like it," said Clift, who raises beef cattle.

The calf, born Wednesday, was unable to walk and was bottle-fed by Clift's family until it died Thursday, the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader reported Sunday.

Animals born with two heads, a condition known as polycephaly, are "pretty darn rare" and usually die shortly after birth, said Eldon Cole, a livestock expert with the University of Missouri Extension.

A number of two-headed snakes have lived for years, including an albino rat snake named "We" that lived to be 8 years old before dying in 2007 at the World Aquarium in St. Louis.

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