KIRKWOOD, Mo. – Tiger-Lily, a singular two-headed western rat snake, (Pantherophis obsoletus), will go away the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Powder Valley Nature Center Monday, March 18. The snake will probably be sure for MDC’s Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center in Kansas City because it continues a statewide tour of MDC websites whereas its home at Shepherd of the Hills Conservation Center close to Branson is closed for building.
Tiger-Lily has been on mortgage on the nature middle in Kirkwood since January 23. “Almost 10,000 visitors have been able to come to Powder Valley to meet Tiger-Lily since her January 23 arrival,” mentioned MDC mentioned Interim Nature Center Manager, Robyn Parker.
The two-headed snake was found in Stone County in 2017 and named “Tiger-Lily” by the household who discovered the uncommon reptile. Tiger-Lily is definitely a pair of conjoined equivalent snake twins that had been by no means utterly separated. Such snakes are not often seen within the wild, partly as a result of snakes born this manner have a low survival price. Western rat snakes are non-venomous and a standard native species in Missouri.
Having two heads presents a particular problem when consuming, since each heads need to eat, however there may be solely have one esophagus between them. To handle the problem, naturalists put a small cup over one head whereas feeding the opposite.
“We’ve been showing the feeding times on a television screen, so the public has had the ability to witness this interesting phenomenon,” Parker mentioned.
Eating is only one of many struggles dealing with a polycephalous (two-headed) animal. If it had been within the wild, a two-headed snake would even be extraordinarily vulnerable to predation as a result of it wouldn’t have the flexibility to flee into the traditional holes and crevices that one-headed snakes can match into. However, in captivity, a two-headed snake’s possibilities of survival are significantly better.
Tiger-Lily will stay on show at Powder Valley by Saturday, March 16. The snake’s subsequent feeding earlier than its departure will probably be at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 14.
Powder Valley Nature Center is positioned at 11715 Cragwold Road in Kirkwood, close to the intersection of I-270 and I-44.
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