Fisherman Osvaldo Lopez Romero from the Cuban city of Pinar del Rio went about a month ago to dig worms for fishing with his son.
Romero was digging a hole near the seashore with a shovel, and suddenly he dug to the edge of a clutch of sea turtle eggs, in which it was almost time for hatching.
When Romero and his son began to examine one of the cracked eggs, they were suddenly surprised to see two tiny turtle heads protruding from there at once.
The fisherman immediately felt that these were not ordinary turtles and decided to take the egg with him. At home, he carefully pulled the two-headed turtle out of its shell and washed it in water.
Then he considered that this creature is a variant of the tortoise Siamese twins, having a common fused body with two tails below the "waist", but different heads, forelimbs and rib cages.
Romero is convinced that turtles also have a dual digestive and excretory system and that they have mostly grown together with only shells.
Realizing what a unique gift of nature was in his hands, the fisherman regretted that the turtles probably would not survive, since a yolk sac still hung at the end of their body.
However, the turtles were in no hurry to die and the very next day they began to take food in the form of pieces of fish and worms.
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Romero asked local fishermen if they had seen anything similar in these waters before, and they all refused. According to them, this happens extremely rarely in nature, since babies with such anomalies usually either do not wear out, or die immediately after birth.
The last time Siamese turtle twins were found in Cuba was more than ten years ago in the province of Sancti Spiritus.
When the turtle twins were examined by a veterinarian, he said that the development of two turtle embryos in one egg is very rare in itself, and besides, it is incredible that they were able to develop before hatching, and did not die at an early stage.
According to the doctor, if not for Romero, these turtles would definitely have died, perhaps even failing to get from the nesting site to the ocean. Because of their fusion, it is difficult for them to move quickly and they are easy prey for predators.
Now some are offering to buy Siamese turtles from Romero, and for a rather large sum, but the fisherman says he does not want to sell them.