Siamese Swallows

In Arkansas in July there were reports of the discovery of “siamese” or conjoined barn swallows that were thought to be attached at the hip. They were found by an Arkansas resident after they had fallen from their nest onto his driveway. This find caused quite the stir since finding conjoined birds is very rare. One of the birds died and the other was later euthanized by a veterinarian. They were sent to the Smithsonian Institute to be examined where a curator found them not actually “conjoined”. X-rays showed there was no sharing of bones or internal organs which pretty much ruled out the “siamsese” theory. In the beginning only three legs were found, but upon closer examination a fourth one was found “tucked under the skin connecting them”. A curator for the Smithsonian believes the foot of the fourth leg may possibly had gotten wedged into a wound on the other bird where it had healed encompassing the foot.

The photo is courtesy of Mr. Samuel Peebles who works for the Daily Citizen newspaper.

Sources:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/080723-twin-swallows.html

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2008/07/24/siamese-swallows-in-arkansas-not-so-fast-expert-says/