Two headed fossil found according to a report in BBC News, The Times, Telegraph (UK) and New Scientist 20 December 2006. Palaeontologists have found a fossilised reptile with two heads buried in Cretaceous rocks in north eastern China. The fossil has been identified as a choristoderan, an extinct aquatic reptile with a long neck that grew to about one metre (3 ft) in length. The two headed fossil is a baby, about 7cm (2.8in) long, and was found in a fossilised nest of other baby choristodera. The creature had two heads and necks attached to a single body, and is the only known two headed fossil. Living two headed reptiles have been found, and are the result of a defect called “axial bifurcation” that occurs during embryonic development.
The Times article comments: “The find is remarkable because it is extremely rare for any dead animal to be preserved as a fossil. The vast majority decompose without leaving a trace of their existence. For a specimen as rare as a mutant with two heads to survive defies the laws of probability.” The Telegraph article is entitled “Fossil of two-headed ‘dragon’ found in China”.
Editorial Comment: The Times is right about fossilisation – it doesn’t occur just because something dies, as scavengers and bacteria usually destroy dead animals. Fossils are formed only when things are buried rapidly and deeply, as has happened with this nest of baby dinosaurs. The two headed dinosaur was most likely the result of the same defective development that causes two headed reptiles to form today. This is a degenerative process that usually causes the animal to die early in life because the two heads fight one another. To put it in a biblical perspective, it formed only after Adam’s sin as two heads are not better than one, and are the provable result of degeneration. It also is a maximum age of Noah’s flood as this is the first time rapid burials of degenerate creatures occurred. Therefore, it is a good reminder of the Biblical history of the world. The world was created “very good” but after man rebelled against his creator, God judged the world in several ways including sending a massive flood. (Ref. deformities, reptiles, teratology)
Evidence News 9 February 2007