Super Rare Conjoined Two headed dolphin A.K.A Dolphin Twins
By: Anime Freak and Kat
A dead Two headed dolphin was washed ashore in the week of August 14, 2014 in Turkey. This is only the fifth known case of of the conjoined twins of the dolphin family.
"Because conjoined twins usually die while in the womb, how often the condition occurs in dolphins and whales is unknown, explained Kelli Danill, a research biologist with the marine-mammal and turtle division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."
Kat and I are trying to find out about this rare yet fasinating specimen.
"Though conjoined twins are common in humans, wild birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and domestic and laboratory animals, the fetal abnormality is extremely
“Swimming free a young dolphin, was caught in a crab trap and transported to the Clearwater Marine Hospital” found at see winter.com. This dolphin was named Winter in 2005, the year she was found.Real damage was made to Winter's tale, which made it hard for her to swim. “It took the expertise of a dedicated marine biologist, the ingenuity of a brilliant prosthetics
Twins, share a bond that no parent, child or sibling relationship can ever compare. There are two main types of twins, and these include: monozygotic (identical) twins and dizygotic (fraternal) twins, and they are compared by their emotional, behavioural, and cognitive similarities. (Robert Plomin, 1997). According to Social Issues Referencing, 2007, whereas Identical twins are formed from a single (mono) zygote and are genetic “carbon copies”, fraternal twins develop from two (di) separate zygotes, as a result of two eggs being fertilized by two sperms independently. (Social Issues Referencing, 2007, para. 8)
The Amazon River Dolphin is called the Inia Geoffrensis, and more commonly the boto or pink dolphin. The Amazon River Dolphin has a lifespan of 30 years unless they are caught and used for bait. This dolphin is the largest of the River Dolphin species. They have a body length between 2 and 2.6 meters, and weigh between 220 and 350 pounds. Depending on the location, the dolphins could be blue, pink, albino, etc.
Bottlenose Dolphins are a very interesting animal. They have a fusiform (Spindle shaped) body that allows them to move quickly in the water. Because of the Dolphins’ shape they have bilateral symmetry. They also have a dorsal fin, flippers, and a fluke. However, Bottlenose Dolphins do not have ears on the outside of their bodies, hair, or hind limbs. The color of this type of dolphin is usually a light grey color to a black. Their stomach is white and sometimes has a pink hue. One physical adaptation these dolphins have is a telescoped skull. The skull is like this because it allows them to breathe more easily while swimming. Bottlenose Dolphins also have blubber that they use as insulation and vascular shunts that allow them to have cooling for certain types of organs and tissues in their bodies. Finally, Bottlenose Dolphins have sharp teeth that let them grasp onto their prey, so their tongue can push the prey down the dolphin’s throat. Bottlenose Dolphins have a range mass of 260 to 500kg which is 572.69 to 1101.32 in pounds. The average mass of the Bottlenose Dolphin is 400kg. Their average mass in pounds is 881.06.
Observations made by Coscarella et al. (2015) show the Killer Whale swimming alongside a dolphin and hitting the dolphin in its head in order to knock the dolphin unconscious. Coscarella et al. (2015) also spotted these Killer Whales socializing, lobtailing, slapping, and recorded breaching behaviors. Coordinated hunting behavior was seen as the Killer Whales would herd the dolphin towards an individual whale that would catch the prey, this supports a belief that sharing prey is common because this has been seen before (Coscarella et al., 2015). Social relationships are maintained when the Killer Whales share their prey (Coscarella et al., 2015).
Occasionally the whales will fight with each other due to stress, but since they are in such a small enclosure they have nowhere to go to get away from each other like they would in the wild. Many orcas that are held in captivity have problems with their teeth and they have to have their teeth drilled. “All captive adult male orcas have collapsed dorsal fins, likely because they have no space in which to swim freely and are fed an unnatural diet of thawed dead fish”(8 Reasons). Some killer whales also develop infections and the whales are not healthy because they are not fed a healthy diet like they would eat in the ocean.
Occasionally, the whales will fight with each other due to stress, but since they are in such a small enclosure they have nowhere to go to get away from each other like they would in the wild. Many orcas that are held in captivity have problems with their teeth and they have to have their teeth drilled. “All captive adult male orcas have collapsed dorsal fins, likely because they have no space in which to swim freely and are fed an unnatural diet of thawed dead fish”(8 Reasons). Some killer whales also develop infections and the whales are not healthy because they are not fed a healthy diet like they would eat in the ocean.
I would usually read books like this, but I would like to mention how interesting it was while reading. One of Us has valuable information and stories of conjoined twins, not only in the United States but all around the world. I found it interesting how the author uses medical term and quantitative data to identify the different types of twin and how many are there. I did not know there were so many different types of conjoined twin, and where they are attached or infused. Alice Dreger purpose of this book is analyzing case studies both past and present, along with questions and assumptions about anatomy and normality, and transforms our understanding of how we are all intricately and inextricably joined. She also explored the separation surgery on conjoined twins. Providing historical and contemporary evidence that most adults conjoined twins do not desire to be separated, and that many operations are carried out on children too young, by individualizing them at all cost which may result in a tragic event.
The dolphin and I both have roughly the same body type, sort of skinny but built and compact. We both have body types that allow us to fly through the water and swim really fast. We’re both supposed to be about 5’10 to 6 feet long. The spinner dolphin has a very strong lower body which allows it to perform large spinning tricks in mid-air, it can spin roughly 2-5.5 times in one jump. The most acrobatic dolphin, that’s something we don’t have In common.
There are a number of possible types of these births. These include thoracopagus, the most common, affecting 35% of all conjoined twin births, where the chest wall is shared, and often the heart. Pygopagus is another type, occurring in 19% of all cases, where the twins are joined at the buttocks. Two significantly less occurring patterns are ischiopagus, 6%, connected at the tailbone, and craniopagus, 2%, with a fused skull. Some other commonly occuring types include cephalopagus, with the upper torso and back of the cranium fused, and dicephalus, having two heads and necks connected to one body. Cephalopagus and craniopagus twins are rarely operated on, because the brain is such a delicate organ on which to operate, especially when shared brain tissue is involved. Other types include parapagus, a lateral fusion of the lower half of the body, and omphalopagus, joined frontally at the midsection. Finally there is parasitic twinning, where one twin is dependant upon the other for life, and often one is misformed, lacking organs or fully formed parts (www.twinstuff.com).
Most twins didn't survive the experiments. In fact, out of the 3,000 twins that were captured, less than 200 escaped. The twins that survived were often separated, unless extremely lucky.
The common name for Tursiops truncatus is the common bottlenose dolphin, phylum Chordata, class Mammalia, order Cetacea, family Delphinidae, of the genus Tursiops,
I observed a set of dizygotic or fraternal twins, Antonio and James, that had walked in, which were both males. I noticed that they were attached to their mother, which I had considered “normal” when thinking back to when my 15 year old daughter was that age. Even
There are two types of twins. One type of twins, called identical twins, is exact clones of each other. They share the same DNA and were made from a single split egg. More research as been done regarding these types of twins as they are the more remarkable kind. Since they are a genetic match, nature plays the
“Your daughter is alright Mrs. Annenberg, there are no symptoms of a person with mental issues. But if I musk as, why do you believe your daughter is simply crazy?” Dr.Willburg questioned.