Polycephaly

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heracles and the Lernaean Hydra by Gustave Moreau: The Hydra is perhaps the best known mythological multi-headed animal, also popularised in many fantasy settings.
Enlarge
Heracles and the Lernaean Hydra by Gustave Moreau: The Hydra is perhaps the best known mythological multi-headed animal, also popularised in many fantasy settings.

Polycephaly is the condition of having more than one head. By far the most common use is in relation to the anatomical head, though the word has also been used for other meanings of "head". The term is derived from the stems poly- meaning 'many' and kephal- meaning "head", and encompasses bicephaly and dicephaly (both referring to two-headedness). A variation is an animal born with two faces on a single head, a condition known as diprosopus. In medical terms these are all congenital cephalic disorders.

There are many occurrences of multi-headed animals, in real life as well as in mythology. Many fantasy universes contain races of creatures with multiple heads. In heraldry and vexillology, the double-headed eagle is a common symbol, though no such animal is known to have ever existed.

Bicephalic animals are the only type of multi-headed creatures seen in the real world and form by the same process as conjoined twins: the zygote begins to split but fails to completely separate. One extreme example of this is the condition of craniopagus parasiticus, whereby a fully developed body has a parasitic twin head joined at the skull.

Contents

[edit] Mythological occurrences

The 16th-century German illustrator has been influenced by the Beast of Revelation in his depiction of the Hydra.
Enlarge
The 16th-century German illustrator has been influenced by the Beast of Revelation in his depiction of the Hydra.

[edit] Greek mythology

Greek mythology contains a number of multi-headed creatures. Typhon, a vast grisly monster with a hundred heads and a hundred serpents issuing from his thighs, is often described as having several offspring with Echidna, a creature with the body of a serpent but the face of a beautiful woman. Their offspring account for all the major monsters of Greek mythos, including:

Other accounts state that some of these creatures were the offspring of Phorcys and Ceto. Phorcys is also said to have fathered Scylla, a giant monster with six dogs' heads, which terrorises Odysseus and his crew.

[edit] Other mythologies

[edit] Real occurrences

[edit] Humans

Abigail Hensel (left) and Brittany Hensel (right)
Enlarge
Abigail Hensel (left) and Brittany Hensel (right)

Dicephalic conjoined twins (dicephalus dipus):

[edit] Animals

[edit] Snakes

There have been numerous reports of two-headed snakes around the world, making them the most commonly-occurring two-headed animal (though still extremely rare). While they usually only live for a few months, some others have lived a full life and even reproduced (with the offspring born normal). The two heads may fight for food, and even try to swallow each other. A two-headed black rat snake with separate throats and stomachs survived for 20 years. "We", an albino rat snake, has survived in captivity for 6 years (as of 2006), and is expected to live an additional 10 years; both heads share the same stomach. It was scheduled to be auctioned on eBay with an expected price tag of $150,000 (£87,000), though their policy of not trading in live animals prevented the sale.[1] On Halloween 2006, the World Aquarium announced that "We" was adopted by Nutra Pharma Corporation, a biotechnology company developing treatments for Multiple Sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, and AMN using modified cobra venom and cobratoxin. There is some speculation that the inbreeding of snakes in captivity increases the chances of a two-headed birth.[2] A preserved two-headed snake is on display in the Museum at the Georgia State Capitol Building in Atlanta.[3]

[edit] Turtles and tortoises

In 2003 a two-headed angulate tortoise was discovered in South Africa, with the only other known case in the region reported in the early 1980s.[4] A two-headed Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise was born in Dorchester, England in 2004, to a breeder who named the twosome Solomon and Sheba.[5] A two-headed olive ridley sea turtle found in Costa Rica by the World Wildlife Fund was reported in 2005.[6] A baby turtle of unknown species was also reported in Havana, Cuba in 2005.[7] As of 2006, a living two-headed tortoise named Janus is being displayed in the Museum of Natural History of Geneva.[8]A two-headed, 5 limbed soft-shell tortoise in Singapore was also featured on a local television program in early 2006, and again on another program in late 2006.[9]

[edit] Cats

Two-faced kitten, Lausanne.
Enlarge
Two-faced kitten, Lausanne.

A two-faced kitten named Image was born and died in 2000 in Pennsylvania.[10] Another two-faced kitten, Deuce, was born in Florida in March 2005 and was put down shortly thereafter, having come down with pneumonia. A two-faced kitten named Gemini was born in Oregon in June 2005.[11] In July 2006 a two-faced kitten named Tiger was born, this time in Grove City, Ohio. The Laing Museum in the small town of Newburgh, Fife, Scotland, preserves the stuffed body of a two-headed kitten born in the 19th century on Mugdrum Island, an island in the Firth of Tay to the north of the town.

The Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta has a full body taxidermy of a two-faced kitten.

[edit] Cattle

Two-headed calf, Lausanne.
Enlarge
Two-headed calf, Lausanne.

A head mount of a two-headed calf is on display in the Museum at the Georgia State Capitol Building in Atlanta. A two-faced calf is preserved at the Douglas County Museum in Waterville, Washington, USA.[12] The calf lived for ten days after birth. Also the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee has full body taxidermy of a two-headed calf.

[edit] Goats & Sheep

Two-faced lamb, Lausanne.
Enlarge
Two-faced lamb, Lausanne.

There are countless reports and stuffed two-headed and two-faced goats and sheep. One mount is in the Ripley's Believe It Or Not!, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Many travel with animal side shows to county fairs. A two-headed lamb was born in China, the report reads "A two-headed lamb was born on a farm in the Shangdong province of China earlier this week. The lamb, reportedly has four eyes and two mouths each of which bleat independently, but share the same neck and body"

[edit] Other occurrences

[edit] Demonology

[edit] Film

Ray Harryhausen created several two-headed models for stop-motion animation in films. Dioskilos, the guardian of Medusa's shrine in 1981's Clash of the Titans, is a ferocious dog with two heads. The model was originally intended to have three heads but, according to Harryhausen, "looked far too grotesque and top heavy and was therefore totally unbelievable".[13] His work on The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad included a two-headed roc, and Jason and the Argonauts battled a seven-headed hydra of Harryhausen's creation.

Other films that have featured multi-headed creatures include:

There have also been several films including two-headed people:

  • In How to Get Ahead in Advertising a boil grows into a second head.
  • The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant[14].
  • In Army of Darkness, the lead character Ash has an extra head grow on his shoulder. It eventually splits away from his body making two identical Ashes (although one is "good" and the other "evil").
  • The Thing with Two Heads is a comedy in which the head of a white racist is grafted onto the body of an African-American.
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie (based on the book by Douglas Adams) has a character named Zaphod Beeblebrox who can make his second head appear under his first head. In the radio series, books, and television series, the second head is always visible.

The film Monty Python and the Holy Grail features a three-headed knight.

[edit] Literature

[edit] Fantasy series

[edit] Other

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Two-headed snake 'up for auction'. BBC News. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  2. ^ Mayell, Hillary (March 22 2002). Life Is Confusing For Two-Headed Snakes. National Geographic News. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  3. ^ Georgia Capitol Museum. AOL Cityguide. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  4. ^ Swarts, Candice (May 30 2003). Rare Two-Headed Tortoise Found in South Africa. National Geographic News. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  5. ^ Shell shock at two-headed tortoise. BBC News (12 November 2004). Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  6. ^ Two-headed turtle found in Costa Rica. 999Today (1 Dec 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  7. ^ Two-headed turtle found in Havana, Cuba. mongabay.com (October 1 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  8. ^ Culture in Geneva. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  9. ^ {{cite web| url=http://infopedia.nlb.gov.sg/articles/SIP_421_2005-01-03.html | title=The Chinese Garden (Yu Hwa Yuan)
  10. ^ Two-Faced Kittens (7-10 June 2000). Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  11. ^ Traylor, Dan (June 16 2005). Two-faced kitten shocks owner, veterinarian. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  12. ^ Ellington, Luke. THE TOWN OF WATERVILLE. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  13. ^ Hartley (Delflord), Marc. Dioskilos. The Seventh Voyage. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  14. ^ The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant. IMDB. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../p/o/l/Polycephaly.html"
In other languages