No these cool photos are not manipulations, this is a rare genetic disorder known as Polycephaly, which basically means, "Having more than one head."
I was fortunate enough to be allowed to photograph this cool animal. I remember the text telling me to bring my camera and the reason why. When I heard about the two-headed snake, I had questions about its behavior for obvious reasons. These questions were answered within moments of meeting it. As I prepared to photograph the beautiful snake, one head appeared to be aggressive (which is a defense for this baby snake), while the other of the two heads would pay no attention. I was a bit surprised because the aggressive one would try to strike at me, but the indifferent one held the aggressor back because it was not working with its partner. So the aggressive one would only be able to snap but not actually strike. Which for this small of a harmless snake wouldn't have any impact even if both heads worked together.
While the mutation is rare, the survival of such an animal is even rarer. It is in my understanding that this particular animal was not an exception to the rule. It would eat, appeared healthy, but did not survive. I was just glad to be one to photograph it. There is a gallery of 25+ images of this animal on my website.
More info: jasontalbottphotography.com
