Two-headed Bearded Dragon
Zak-n-Wheezie is a two-headed Bearded Dragon lizard that lives on the Wittes family farm in Fowler, California. They (it? he?) just turned one. From McClatchy Newspapers:
When Zak-n-Wheezie were younger, the Wittes laid low to make sure no one searching for an oddity would find their one-in-a-million (actually, statistically speaking, two-in-a-million) pet.Two-headed lizard (Corante.com, via Cabinet of Wonders)
"There were numerous circus-sideshow people looking for me," Barbara Witte says. "But I'm not looking to get them in the sideshow world."
Frank's brother did some research and told the Wittes not to sell Zak-n-Wheezie for anything less than a million dollars — that there were people out there who would pay that much to eat the Wittes' pet.
"There are people who will pay large amounts to eat a two-headed critter. They think it will give them eternal life," says Frank Witte, shaking his head.
the latest
latest episodes
aww they are cute!
I used to breed these and usually two headed ones do not generally survive more than a few days.
but these guys look pretty good.
Eternal life indeed. How stupid ARE people?
Zack-n-Weezie are probably two separate beings. The girls I read about shared one body, but because they had separate heads and minds, they were considered twins sharing the most cramped space imaginable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_and_Brittany_Hensel
yeah! everyone knows that you can only get eternal life by eating the dried,powdered heart of a traditional Chinese herbalist!
Photoshopped. I can tell by the pixels.
Cute, their named after the two headed dragon from the Emmy award winning kids show "Dragon Tales".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Tales
(Also there appears to be a typo in the title with a extra "d".)
(#2: Actually their namesakes are two separate conjoined twins.)
I like pets and all, but if I had a chance of getting a cool mil from a superstitious nutjob that thing would be on the menu faster than you can say "freak of nature."
I always preferred Street Fighter over Double Dragon. Strooy-Oöchen!
A two-headed bearded dragon is impressive, true, but a two-headed bearded clam, now, that's what I want to see!
i like TURTLES!
When I was a kid, a friend of mine caught a two-headed lizard of some sort. The heads fought over food and one bit him on the thumb, drawing blood. They (it?) died about two weeks later, though...
If only I knew then that it was worth $$$! Ah, those innocent days of yore before the evil internets corrupted us all.
Does the d in dDragon stand for dire?
I for one welcome our Two-Headed Bearded dDragon Overlords!
A million is a vast overestimate. I know a few people who MIGHT pay a couple grand for them alive - dead they may get a few hundred, slightly more valuable than a well done gaff (fake). I paid $120 for an excellent two headed lizard gaff that you would have to dissect to know from the real thing and I only paid that much because I dug the artist who made it.
Their value to anyone displaying oodities is a straightforward evaluation of how much money can be made exhibiting them over time - most likely as part of a larger exhibit. You can (and people have) make a million displaying such animals over a period of years (with ticket prices generally between $1-$5) but no one attraction will drive such income and thus warrant such a price. Many current shows only use live animals to further suggest their gaffs might be real. Dead/fakes are more economical with less issues (feeding & care) and usually equally effective with audiences
I have to say, if I had this lizard and someone would pay me a million dollars for it, I wouldn't hesitate to sell it.
I'd probably even throw in some BBQ sauce.
Ok, Keep the poor thing. Then on the day it inevitably croaks, put it on ice. Auction that sucker. Retire.
Those two don't appear to like each other very much.
Put lizard in cage. Focus webcam on cage. Sell ads. Profit!
After a while, auction it off to your hypothetical mad gourmand.
Lizardman, I really like your comments. A well-educated assessment of the freakshow value based on what appears to be first-hand experience of the venue in question.
I live in Fowler, but I wasn't aware of this wonder in our midst. Thanks boingboing!
And as if that wasn't cute enough...
Nice try guys, but I think it's obvious that this has been yoinked from King Ghidorah's baby photo album.
#14: Ross, you win the multi-joke comment prize for the day. :)
Well I'm sure that no-one expected for me to show up and comment, but here I am.
First off to me they are priceless.
Secondly that is a Newspaper article an I don't think that their photographers photoshop their photos.
PFEUTZENEUTRE I'm amazed that you live in Fowler and have not seen them yet. Everyone at the Bank of America can tell you about them. They venture to A-Mart quite often with me. And have attended Car Shows and several classrooms in the Elementary Schools.
GLASSOLALIA_BLACK you are very correct they would have been twins if they had completely seperated. But sense they did not they are considered siamese twins.
If anyone would care to ask any intelligent questions I would be more than happy to answer them. Zak-n-Wheezie are very amazing sense they are the first of their kind to survive this long. Normally Bearded Dragon oddities do not live more than a couple of months if that.
I feel sorry for all of the haters and non believers that can not see how unique they really are.
Barbara