Maharashtra, India: A 2-headed extremely rare Russell’s Viper was found in Maharashtra, India, on Thursday last week.
The rare snake was rescued from Kalyan’s Gandhare Road area on the outskirts of Mumbai.
The snake measures 11 cm and each of its twin heads come up around 2 centimeters in length.
The Russell’s Viper snake is one of the most venomous snake species that could be found in the country of India.
It is also responsible for having the most incident of snake bites in the country.
According to Kalyan resident Dimple Shah, she spotted the snake on Thursday and contacted the War Rescue Foundation right away.
2 rescuers from the foundation then arrived at the spot to rescue the rare snake, which was later identified as a rare Russell’s Viper.
A video of the rescue was shared on social media by Indian Forest Services officer Susanta Nanda.
In the video that was posted on Twitter, Susanta said:
Two headed Russell’s Viper rescued in Maharashtra. Genetic abnormality and hence low survival rates in the wild. The Russell’s Viper is far more dangerous than most poisonous snakes because it harms you even if you survive the initial bite.
The snake will be handed over to the Haffkine Institute in Parel.
Snakes that are identical to this rare birth have a hard time in surviving in the wild because they are easy to be eaten by larger animals and because of the fact that there are 2 heads, which makes it hard to survive for the animal.
Two heads in animals can result from the incomplete splitting of an embryo, which is also called axial bifurcation.
Let’s just hope that this extremely rare 2-headed venomous snake will manage to survive in captivity with the care of professionals.