News You Can Bruise for 2003 May 30

Check out the incredible two-headed tortoise (picture #2).

Figure 1: Relative Coolness Of Two-Headed Things

Thing	Coolness
Ettin
Pushmi-pullyu
Two-headed snake
Two-headed tortoise

(Inevitable reader response:)

Dear Sir,

It seems clear you've never spent any time in South Africa. The Wellington Garden Weasel, it is true, bears a strong resemblance to a two-headed tortoise. However, the secondary "head" is merely the weasel's fifth leg, which can be shed like a lizard's tail in a bid to escape from predators. The similarity between the weasel and many famous tortoises has led some zoologists to compromise by placing it with lampreys in the family Petromyzontidae.

Hoping this finds you,
Yours etc.,
Brigadier General Macro Kowalski, O.B.E. (Ret.)