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Doppelkopf: Janus, the two-headed Greek tortoise from Geneva
Photo: Salvatore Di Nolfi / dpa
For the birthday there was wellness with the toothbrush.
Janus is bathed daily, massaged regularly, spoiled with a special diet and checked for his general condition.
The Greek tortoise from the Natural History Museum in Geneva is celebrating its 25th birthday today.
According to the museum, the two heads with two brains have their own personalities and sometimes want to go in different directions.
The right head is more dominant, the left more phlegmatic.
That's why the nursing team keeps a constant eye on Janus and, if necessary, moves him from his back to a prone position, because the animal cannot straighten up immediately.
The amphibian hatched into the museum's care in 1997 and was named after Janus, the two-faced Roman god.
The animal would hardly have survived in the wild because the two heads cannot be pulled into the shell for protection due to lack of space.
Two heads that take different breaths
The reason for the rare anomaly in the tortoise could be both genetic factors and environmental influences that could have affected the embryo.
Like Siamese twins in humans, the tortoise shares some areas of the body.
However, the two heads work independently, so they gasp at about different times.
As a rule, animals with such an anomaly do not live long.
Janus' 25th birthday is all the better!
flg/dpa
