Double-Headed,
Four-Eyed Calf Eats with Both Mouths
MOST double-headed
calves are stuffed; but on the farm of Edd Ellis, at Arkansas
City, Kans., is one so much alive that it eats with both its
mouths! In fact, the animal seems to find that two, heads are
fully as useful as one. The body of the calf is normal, but
there are two complete heads, with two noses, two mouths, and
four eyes. The two middle eyes are set in one socket, forming
a double eye; but there are two eyeballs, quite independent,
with inner surfaces in contact. These middle eyes seem to have
atrophied, and the animal sees only with the two outer eyes,
one on the side of each head. Since the forehead is abnormally
broad, the calf can- not see straight ahead. During the first
two weeks of the calf’s life the middle eyes seemed fairly
normal. Later they began to turn white and finally became
covered with a scaly layer. Each of the eyeballs has an
independent movement.
The animal eats
with either one of its mouths, depending upon the side from
which food is presented. While it seldom eats with both at
once, it can do so, as the muscles are practically
independent.
The definite
causes of such monstrosities are not known, but it is found
that in almost all cases they are accompanied by very
irregular formations of the parts concerned. Even in this
case, although an unusually perfect one, the fused jaws are
somewhat abnormal. It is evident that the animal has two
brains, but whether its movements are controlled from both in
unison, or whether one of the brains has atrophied, will not
be known until post-mortem examination can be made.
Courtesy of
Journal of Heredity - March 1922
