Tag: WEIRD Metro

A rare baby turtle has been discovered with two heads – and seemingly two distinct personalities.

The tiny diamondback terrapin weighing just 5.2 grammes was found at a protected nesting site in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the US.

Despite having two fully formed heads, the youngster is said to be swimming and eating normally.

It was taken to the Cape Wildlife Center in nearby Barnstable after being discovered by the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

The remarkable reptile has a condition known as bicephaly – where an animal develops two heads on a single body.

Experts say the condition can occur when an embryo begins dividing to form twins but fails to separate completely.

Vets are now closely monitoring the turtle as they try to understand how its unusual anatomy works.

And although the hatchling weighs little more than a nickel, it already appears to have two distinct personalities.

Zak Mertz, CEO of New England Wildlife Centers, said the left head seems to have the ‘bigger personality’.

The centre has only treated two other bicephalic turtles in the past five years.

Staff said: ‘While we’ve encountered this unusual condition before, every case gives us another opportunity to learn more about these fascinating animals’ anatomy and physiology.

‘For now, our team is monitoring this little one’s (two’s?) appetite, growth, and behavior closely.’

Both heads are functional and the turtle currently appears healthy. But its internal anatomy remains something of a mystery.

As the youngster grows, vets hope to carry out further examinations, including X-rays and CT scans, to see how its organs are arranged and shared between the two sides.

Bicephalic animals can have dramatically different internal structures depending on how far the embryo divided during development.

Diamondback terrapins are found in coastal salt marshes and estuaries and are considered a threatened species in Massachusetts.

It is not yet known whether the unusual youngster will eventually be able to survive in the wild.

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We’re just a few weeks away from Halloween, and Nasa has shared an appropriately spooky sight lurking in deep space.

The eerie image shows a nebula that seems to resemble a witch’s head in profile — and has been given the fitting name ‘Witch Head Nebula’.

Officially known as IC 2118, the ghostly formation lies between the constellations Orion and Eridanus, around 900 light-years from Earth.

Its distinctive silhouette appears to form the profile of a witch, complete with a prominent chin and hooked nose.

But rather than being anything supernatural, the apparition is a vast cloud of interstellar gas and dust illuminated by nearby supergiant star Rigel.

The Witch Head is a reflection nebula, meaning it shines by reflecting light from a neighbouring star.

Its striking appearance is particularly blue because the dust grains scatter blue light more efficiently than red – similar to the process that makes Earth’s daytime sky appear blue.

The nebula is difficult to spot with the naked eye, but Nasa says keen stargazers can improve their chances of seeing it by heading to a dark location and using a large-aperture telescope at low magnification.

An infrared image previously captured by Nasa’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) also revealed clouds within the Witch Head where new stars are forming.

And the cosmic witch even has a broom – with another formation nicknamed the Witch’s Broom found in the Western Veil Nebula in the constellation Cygnus.

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An American man who claims he met Jesus after spending 18 days in a coma has described ‘him’ as ‘6ft but as tall as eternity’ and a ‘Mustang full of testosterone’.

Gabe Poirot was riding an electric skateboard at around 30 miles per hour without a helmet in October 2021 when he hit a small bump in the road and flipped backwards, landing directly on his head.

The impact cracked the then 20-year-old’s skull, causing a traumatic brain injury.

However, during Gabe’s 18-day coma, he apparently had a near-death experience, where he recalled leaving his body, encountering Jesus, and witnessing how heaven is a person rather than a place. 

He also says that Earth isn’t actually ‘real’ and heaven is true existence.

Gabe spoke to Fox News about his ordeal, telling the presenter that ‘Jesus had waited his entire life just for [him],’ and that he was ‘suctioned up’ to a ‘tunnel of light’ where he could see his body from above.

‘I watched my own friend hold my body in his arms and he was praying, and the closer I got to this light, I knew that I had an appointment. I could see the nurses with bewilderment across their faces, thinking, “How are you alive?”‘ he said.

On ‘meeting’ Jesus on the other side, Gabe said that ‘when Jesus looked at me, he picked up my face, and said, “Gabriel, why are you concerned about that which has been paid?”‘

Gabe continued: ‘I didn’t originally see him face-to-face, because my face was down, and I was so concerned that the list of my mistakes was going to be pulled up and I was done for.’

Adding that he believed he had ‘no hope,’ Gabe said Jesus ‘showed [him] the wounds on his hands, and said, “they have a name: Gabriel.”‘

Gabe told the presenter that Jesus endured the injuries for him. ‘Like I was his only one, I’ll forever be his only one. He’d waited his entire life just for me.’

Gabe later said the ‘heaven that he was headed for wasn’t just a destination,’ but that it was a ‘person.’

He also claimed that everywhere he looked, he saw heaven, from the mountains to the trees. He said: ‘As the wind hits the leaves, they’ll go back and forth, and they have a note to them. They’ll sing “worthy is the lamb,” and then the waves and the rivers in the waters of life will receive that same note, and they’ll sing back, “worthy is the lamb.”

‘Even the sand will receive the waves, and they’ll sing “worthy is the lamb.”‘

Visually, Gabe added that the colours in heaven are ‘beyond description.’ He also said that when you look at the flowers, they say “Jesus, you’re beautiful,” because ‘he is all of heaven.’

According to Gabe’s experience, Jesus is ‘left, right, centre, back,’ and ‘there’s no escape’ from him.

He described his meeting as a ‘soldier freefalling into an ocean of liquid love,’ adding: ‘That was the place I found myself in.’

When asked what Jesus looked like, Gabe’s answers were quite contradictory. However, the one thing he was sure of? That Jesus is male.

‘When I hear other people’s testimonies, they didn’t meet a female Jesus; they didn’t meet a soft or a passive Jesus. Jesus is a man.’

Gabe added that ‘in America, Jesus has been misrepresented. And there are so many cultural things that present him as if he’s some tolerant guy.’

But, Gabe said ‘that’s not the Jesus [he] met,’ referring to him as ‘a lion.’

‘He’s not a lion angry against me; he’s a lion angry for me. He’s a Mustang on my behalf. He did it all for me.’

Finally, Gabe described Jesus as ‘pure fire,’ who stands at a confusing height of 5ft11″ or 6ft, ‘yet as tall as eternity.’ He said Jesus looked like ‘an ocean of love’ with eyes that were ‘burning white and red at the same time.’

‘And talk about testosterone, he was like a Mustang, I’m telling you.’

Well, there you have it. Jesus is a 6ft bloke who roars like a lion, apparently.

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