Two-Headed Snake

In 1978 “Tooty Two Head,” a two-headed black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta), came to the Psychology Department for study by herpetologist Dr. Gordon Burghhardt as a gift of Chuck Hahs, a junior in mechanical engineering, who caught the snake in Oak Ridge. (Hahs’s neighbor’s children named the snake; it was renamed “Im” upon arrival at UT.) Both heads were functional and often squabbled for food. The snake thrived in its home in Walters Life Sciences, living more than 20 years.