A tortoise has proved that two heads can often be better than one.

John Jones, who has kept tortoises for 55 years, was amazed when he hatched a tortoise with two heads.

The Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise hatched from an egg in a home-made incubator.

The two-month-old animal was the last egg in a batch of 14 to hatch and had to be helped from its shell.

Its two heads work independently of one another, though it is believed that their necks join together and lead to the stomach.

Mr Jones said: "I had never seen anything like it. Both heads eat and sometimes they start on the same piece of food and meet in the middle.

"I think each head has its own little brain because they do try to move in different directions."

Mr Jones said that the animal was healthy and mixed with his other 37 tortoises.

It is unusual but not unprecedented for tortoises to be born with two heads, with cases being recorded in Wales and South Africa.

Source: Sky News