Two Headed Deer Found In Minnesota
OutdoorHub Reporters 05.11.18
A new study coming out of the University of Georgia is shedding light on an extremely rare case of conjoined deer fawns found while hunting for Mushrooms in 2016.
The study, which began in 2016, was kicked off when a mushroom hunter in Freeburg, Minnesota stumbled across this incredibly rare sight. The researchers believe this to be the first case of a conjoined twin being delivered which, is why this find is that much more amazing. While the individual who found this conjoined fawn was not quoted, we can only imagine the shock he experienced when coming across this. Here is more from the University of Georgia.
“The conjoined twin fawns, which were stillborn, are believed to be the first ones found to have reached full term and then be delivered by their mother. The only other examples of conjoined twin fawns have been found still in utero, said Gino D’Angelo, the University of Georgia researcher who studied the deer.
“It’s amazing and extremely rare,” D’Angelo said. “We can’t even estimate the rarity of this. Of the tens of millions of fawns born annually in the U.S., there are probably abnormalities happening in the wild we don’t even know about.”
D’Angelo, an assistant professor of deer ecology and management at UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, said a full examination of the conjoined twin fawns was a unique opportunity for researchers to study such a rare wildlife deformity.
The results of his examination were recently published in the science journal American Midland Naturalist.The mushroom hunter found the fawns in May 2016 near Freeburg, Minnesota, on the forest floor about a mile from the Mississippi River. The fawns were clean, dry and appeared to be recently deceased. The hunter called the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, where D’Angelo was working at the time. The fawns were frozen until a necropsy could be performed, so the specimen was kept in excellent condition, D’Angelo said.”
