Okay, now I’m really freaked out. What the heck is going on in the animal kingdom? First there was the hermaphrodite deer, then the deer with 7 feet. Now, out of Virginia comes a calf born with two faces. You heard me. Two faces.

Born on Dec. 27 at Heldreth Dairy Farm, word was spread quickly and crowds have begun to gather.

The calf is normal in all other aspects, except for its very unusual head. It had two tongues, which move independently, and it breathes out of two noses. The newborn animal has one mouth, but two lower jaws. According to Kirk Heldreth, the owner of the dairy farm, the calf appears to have a single eye socket, containing two eyes, where the head splits, “It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” the dairy farmer said. He goes on to say that during the birth he thought there were two calves at first. Heldreth is currently feeding the female calf through a tube but admits that he can’t maintain such a schedule for much longer.

Conceived through artificial insemination, the calf was supposed to be genetically superior. “Genetically,” the dairy farmer says, “this is one of my better calves.” Other than the two faces, Heldreth says the baby animal is normal and without any other complications or physical ailments. “It’s as healthy as can be,” he said, and expects more curious visitors, “I’ll just have to tie the dogs extra tight.”

Kirk Heldreth’s former teacher Bob James, a professor in the dairy science department at Virginia Tech, said that these sorts of births are rare. “In my 25 years,” he says, “I’ve seen it maybe two or three times.” The professor said that a genetic quirk or developmental problem could be the cause of the oddity.

The website MedicineNet.com says the calf’s condition is called Diprosopus and occurs when twins start to form but don’t separate completely. In most cases, all or part of the face is duplicated, but the rest of the body is completely fused with one set of limbs.

That’s some crazy stuff. So that’s two funky deer, and one funky cow. What’s next? A camel with four humps? An elephant with three trunks? Guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

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