Two-headed snake brought inside by Florida woman's cat

Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Wildlife officials in Florida are taking care of an unusual snake brought in by a woman whose cat dragged the serpent inside her home, leading to the discovery that the reptile has two heads.

Kay Rogers said her daughter's cat, Olive, brought a snake into the living room of the family's Palm Harbor home and after rescuing the reptile from the feline they noticed the small snake has two heads.

"Originally I thought my daughter was kidding when she said that. Then I saw him and was amazed, I had never seen anything like that," Rogers told WKMG-TV.

The snake, a black racer that Rogers' daughter named Dos, is now in the care of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Research Institute.

"This phenomenon, termed bicephaly, is uncommon but happens during embryo development when two monozygotic twins failed to separate, leaving the heads conjoined onto a single body. Both head's tongue flick and react to movement, but not always in the same way," the FWC said in a Facebook post.

Officials said Dos would be unlikely to survive in the wild due to its pair of independent brains making it difficult for the animal to eat and escape from predators.