Deep inside of a Minnesota forest located near the Mississippi River, a deceased conjoined fawn was found by a local mushroom forager.
Lab tests conducted by Assistant Professor/Deer ecologist Gino D’Angelo and his colleagues at the University of Georgia indicate that the fawn had been stillborn based on its anatomy. MRI scans revealed that the conjoined fawns shared a single spinal column that split into two separate necks and heads, with a full necropsy finding that the fawns had two hearts inside a single pericardial sac, two esophagi and forestomach, shared a single malformed liver, and shared a pair of lungs that sunk when placed in water, verifying that the fawns had never breathed outside air and are stillborn.
Due to its abnormal anatomy, it is determined that the conjoined fawns would not have been viable regardless of being stillborn. The fawns are considered to be the first ever recorded case of a conjoined two-headed white-tailed deer to have reached full term gestation and delivery, according to a study published by American Midland Naturalist.
Wild Images In Motion Taxidermy will have the fawns taxidermied and placed on display while the University of Minnesota Veterinary Anatomy Museum will have a skeletal display.
To learn more about the conjoined fawns, click the link below.
