I don't know much about biology, but maybe they're hormonally linked rather than neurologically linked? Their brains are pretty far apart but they share the same bloodstream
So, I get really nervous when I film, and I totally forgot to mention what I really think could be going on. You know how your tongue actually goes farther back than just what you can see? Well, I wonder if they can feel the "tug" of the others tongue when it stretches out to lick something, and it's that feeling that triggers the other to lick also? Does that make sense? It's so hard to put into words.
@creaturecove I can see what you're saying and it sounds like such a strange concept haha, but I could totally see this being plausible. I wonder if some reptile vet would have more info about these guys and how they work. I'd love to hear more about them as you learn more and more
@@creaturecovethey may also be able to feel the water/food going into the stomach, and that may trigger additional licking. Or they can see/hear the other one licking and since you feed both of them at the same time, they associate the other head licking things with food.
I’ve seen some human conjoined twins that can see through the eyes of the other. If I’m not mistaken (but I could be) the heads weren’t joined. The joining took place around the neck down. I am sure I saw one where the heads were joined. Like I’ve said before I’m fascinated with the mechanics of conjoined twins.
Honestly, housing baby lizards together can help encourage each other to eat even when they AREN'T conjoined. It is possible that they are just getting cues from each other like a normal pair of little cresties might!
Given they didn't do the tandem licking getting fed I suspect it's possibly just communal behavior? Tater sees tot lick or vice versa and often, not always, joins in. If it were due to the nervous system being partially linked I'd think they'd have little choice so the feeding should have caused the tandem licking behavior. (if it's like an involuntary lower back controlled reflex) They obviously share lower body bits but upper bodies might be weird in terms of what organs they each have and which they share 1 of. My main concern would be one of them having a digestion system ending in a dead end. If they share the circulatory system it could be fine for the dead-end having one to not eat and drink but food and drink going into a dead end will be a problem as it'll just stay there, accumulate and fester.
I know this sounds morbid, but I really like looking at mutant animals. Especially when they are otherwise happy and healthy!Tater and Tot are as fascinating as they are adorable!
But if you think about it, there are a lot of super hero shows where an animal or even a human gets contaminated with something from a lab and it changes their physical form. And real mutations like the tater and tot as well as the Chernobyl dogs teach us so much about genetics and help us further our understanding of them
I’m particularly fascinated with conjoined/fused twin animals and animals with split/double heads/faces, like janus cats. I don’t know why exactly, it’s just… fascinating! Maybe because the chances of it happening are so low, like what were the odds? But it did happen, and sometimes they survive and sometimes they don’t, but they EXIST against all odds and it’s amazing. When my elementary school raised a big tank full of salmon fry, I noticed a pair of twins that were both attached to the same yolk sac, one on each side, so that one of them was always upside-down. As their yolk finished absorbing, they ended up fused along the belly, and they were smaller than the others since they’d each only gotten half the nutrients from the yolk. They couldn’t swim very well and died after a couple of weeks, but my teacher knew how obsessed with them I was, so she saved their body(ies?) for me, and I still have them all dried up in a little glass jar. My conjoined twin salmon fry. SO cool and weird and tragic and incredible.
I really hope that they are internally connected enough that Tot is able to take nutrients from the food Tater is consuming, and that at least Tater has a proper digestive system. Though that would require little Tater to eat for the two)) And thank you so much for being upfront about not forcefully keeping them alive for longer if their system starts to fail! Their condition is fascinating, but they still deserve respect and care, even if that means that we'll have to let them go
They are conjoined twins so yes they share any and all nutrients that enter the body. She should really take them in for an x-ray or MRI to see how and where they are connected.
I actually address this in a different video. I have spoken to a handful of exotic vets, and all of them have told me the same thing. Tater and Tot need to be about subadult size (ish) to have any chance of seeing anything at all. I absolutely plan on doing this when we have a chance to see something.
@@creaturecovethat makes sense. When the video first starts and TT is shown I was surprised by how small they looked. It caught me off guard. Their “conjoin-ness” is actually one of the most common type I’ve seen. Not that it is the most common just the most common I’ve seen. They probably share a stomach and liver but have a good chance of having 2 hearts and maybe 2-3 lungs. It’s all so fascinating. I don’t know a lot about the anatomy of human or animal so my guesses could be far off the mark.
Thanks for the update. I love that they are doing good, and it's too cute when the back foot goes on his head . My 6 year old son is gonna love watching this in the morning .when you asked in the beginning what names to use for them, he told me to write tater and tot ❤ so he believes that he named them 😊
Wow! What delightful little fellows! I don't have very high expectations for their lifespan, but I certainly have the highest hopes for it. I'm so glad they have somebody who really cares for them on their side.
it's really interesting how we can observe something that is essentially guaranteed in the harsh unforgiving environment of nature to not succeed... at least to the degree to allow for study in the wild. but the care and love shown here lets this creature thrive and we can observe how a creature with biology like this functions. it's equally fascinating and wholesome
It could just be sound, like when you hear someone yawn and then you yawn. And maybe a little pavlovian too? If they usually hear the other one eating while they eat, maybe hearing the other eating makes them hungry.
I kind of get the feeling there's a battle for dominance going on. The main head looks a little like it resents the second head and the second head looks depressed. I wonder if two brains are battling to figure out what the body wants. But the main one really kind of looks like it wants to wipe the second head off.
Tater!! stop stepping on your brothers head!! but no really theyre so precious, thank you for treating them so humanely. im fascinated to see an animal like this having lived so long so far. no matter what the little guys had the best life possible, i hope
Incredible!!!! They are so interesting! Congrats on keeping them alive and doing so well. What an anomaly. I really hope they make it to adulthood. I feel like Tater is the dominant gecko that will more often feed/controls the body etc. Tot may even stop feeding completely and let Tater do the hunting and eating. It's cool that they are both eating as of now though. Super interesting! I'm subbing to your channel to make sure I don't miss any updates on these precious little mutants. Best of luck with them!! I breed geckos myself, I would love to one day hatch pout something THIS unique and special (as long as it's healthy!) So neat to watch and learn from.
So I'm not a biology person, but I'm wondering something. Bear with me because I probably won't be able to articulate it correctly, but: What I know at a basic level is that the spine is way more connected to the neuron system than we realize. There's a channel called Roanoke Gaming who does a lot of biology stuff and I remember he discussed some experimentation by a company where a man who was paralyzed from the waist down had something implemented like a neural bridge on his spine, so when he thought about moving his leg, his leg was able to twitch. I wonder if when Tater or Tot (whichever one) instinctively starts licking, the neuron signals traveling along the spine also make their way to the other one and that tells him to lick as well. Again, I'm probably wording it insanely wrong, but it's just a hypothesis.
This^ So, to put it plainly, Their spines being connected means they share impulses. The nerves in your brain are connected to the spine, so when they "get a signal," it's highly possible that signal is sent to both brains. It's also highly possible, that, with their water, they both just lick at the same time cause there's water all around them. Likely though, it's a combo of both!
I don't think this is very likely. I think the suggestion elsewhere in the comments that it's hormonally mediated makes more sense. Hormones related to hunger can easily reach both brains via the bloodstream, but since tongue movement is controlled by nerves that don't usually stray too far from their destination, it's unlikely this contributes directly. Maybe gecko nervous systems have some weirdness there, and they're definitely sharing parts of that system, but the connection seems far too low unless signals from the GI tract are involved somehow which doesn't seem too likely for voluntary movements like that.
@@SariEverna You... do know that hormone response is sent down your spine, right? Not trying to diss, but that's basically what the "signal" would be. Hormones are transferred via blood to nerves, but also down the spinal column as spinal fluid.
So, I've developed some muscle tension issues after a surgery, particularly in my neck and chest, and one thing I can definitely tell you is that I feel a lot of stuff in neck muscles all the way into my torso, down to my navel. I still struggle with being touched in the lower ribs at times, but muscles like the Sternocleidomastoid and Digastric muscles can help provide indirect relief through my entire front. Tongue pulls are also quite an intense sensation that I have to be careful with, or risk triggering guarding behavior in what seems to be my intercastals and diaphragm. So, from personal experience, I could absolutely believe that these critters are experiencing at least some synchronous sensation into their torso, just when licking. I wouldn't imagine its necessarily painful, but they're silly lil babies, and probably have to learn to coordinate such a dexterous organ
My guess would be is that it's a sensory thing. We know from human conjoined twins that their nervous systems are sometimes linked so that one can feel, for example, if you touch a spot on the others body. So I reckon you get one Gecko licking and that causes the other to either register the taste or the feeling of having something on its tongue so it will start licking as well.
Maybe because it looks like they r attached by their stomachs,so maybe once one eats or drinks the other gets the feeling in their stomachs n makes it try. Idk thats my guess on y they do the tounge thing. So cute i hope they thrive!❤
I think it's a good idea to test your idea to try and prove it wrong. It seems possible to me that, because their little nervous systems should be roughly the same on both sides, that they could be linked purely by environmental factors. Like if you offer food at the same time, I'd think they'd have about the same delay even if they were entirely independent lizards. They are identical twins! But that's also pretty easy to test, I figure? Assuming they both usually take water pretty consistently, you could try offering one some water and wait for a controlled amount of time before giving water to the other. If they still lick at the same time, that rules out "they just have a common environment and identical reaction times" as a cause for this, which means you have something more interesting on your hands 😊 Glad to see the little nuggets are doing well, and happy to hear you'll let nature take its course. Be well ❤
Its possible for conjoined geckos to eat, if the both heads has brains, and possible moving the heads differently, but they have only 1 stomach, so id make sure they dont eat too much^^depending of course the parts of conjoining. But the leg/arm seems to be conjoined on the skin^^. im sure the 2 headed gecko lives a happy life hopefully😇🥰
are they ever going to get big enough that you might get them taken for a scan at the vet, so that one has a better idea of what's going on in there? i hope they both do alright. i guess there is one way to tell if their stomach is shared or if they have their own right - like you know, does their butt seem to be doing double duty?
I don’t think the tongues are connected But in the video clip it look like one was reacting to the other one. so maybe they’re not linked, but they’re getting better at moving as one body.
He sits between 2 other babies. Unfortunately, I don't think they have mastered the art of locomotion to get to the bowl and be able to successfully eat.
I think you are crazy, but you are definitely right there is some link to their actions. And yes im saying the first half just for the sake of it. Thusly i suppose its a compliment xD Best of luck to the little ones
Im not sure m8, my farmgirl heart tells me it’s animal cruelty to keep such a malformed animal alive, may sound cruel but you don’t know if it’s suffering due to more internal malformations or just plain mental trauma Edit: You are definetly atleast responsible to have the lil guys shown to a vet
I'm a farm girl as well. We don't all share your mentality. I have also worked as a vet tech for many, many years. I know what to look for as far as signs of suffering. This little one shows none. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I am always curious about others' opinions and the thought process behind it.
@@creaturecove in that case im glad, i was just rly concerned cuz animals suffering is smth that really gets to me and i was concerned abt the lil guy(guys) glad to know he is in good hands tho, whilst maybe not the most pleasent existence for an animal it is certainly highly interesting and unique, hope they have a long and happy life without suffering from the malformation
Such beautiful, precious creatures. ...creature? Creatures. Twins. Whatever, i love them and theyre amazing lol
I don't know much about biology, but maybe they're hormonally linked rather than neurologically linked? Their brains are pretty far apart but they share the same bloodstream
So, I get really nervous when I film, and I totally forgot to mention what I really think could be going on. You know how your tongue actually goes farther back than just what you can see? Well, I wonder if they can feel the "tug" of the others tongue when it stretches out to lick something, and it's that feeling that triggers the other to lick also? Does that make sense? It's so hard to put into words.
@creaturecove I can see what you're saying and it sounds like such a strange concept haha, but I could totally see this being plausible. I wonder if some reptile vet would have more info about these guys and how they work. I'd love to hear more about them as you learn more and more
i imagine this could pose issues too - ie, tot making 'i've eaten' hormones could make tater refuse food he needs even if he has his own stomach.
@@creaturecovethey may also be able to feel the water/food going into the stomach, and that may trigger additional licking.
Or they can see/hear the other one licking and since you feed both of them at the same time, they associate the other head licking things with food.
I’ve seen some human conjoined twins that can see through the eyes of the other. If I’m not mistaken (but I could be) the heads weren’t joined. The joining took place around the neck down. I am sure I saw one where the heads were joined. Like I’ve said before I’m fascinated with the mechanics of conjoined twins.
There is a joke that crested geckos have one braincell. These guys just have to share their braincell, so they're a little slower than normal.
the braincell bounces back and forth between them, much like a ping-pong ball.
That is so funny 🤣both comments are hilarious
Probably more akin to the DVD logo, bouncing in-between their 2 skulls.
They are cleaver than you! 😂
@@JoeyMx all you witty people make me feel so dull.
Honestly, housing baby lizards together can help encourage each other to eat even when they AREN'T conjoined. It is possible that they are just getting cues from each other like a normal pair of little cresties might!
👍🏽
Interesting how tater is hungry but tot isn’t. Maybe it’s because he’s the “main” head? Also it’s so cute how tater stands their leg on tot’s head lol
Given they didn't do the tandem licking getting fed I suspect it's possibly just communal behavior? Tater sees tot lick or vice versa and often, not always, joins in.
If it were due to the nervous system being partially linked I'd think they'd have little choice so the feeding should have caused the tandem licking behavior. (if it's like an involuntary lower back controlled reflex)
They obviously share lower body bits but upper bodies might be weird in terms of what organs they each have and which they share 1 of.
My main concern would be one of them having a digestion system ending in a dead end. If they share the circulatory system it could be fine for the dead-end having one to not eat and drink but food and drink going into a dead end will be a problem as it'll just stay there, accumulate and fester.
I know this sounds morbid, but I really like looking at mutant animals. Especially when they are otherwise happy and healthy!Tater and Tot are as fascinating as they are adorable!
But if you think about it, there are a lot of super hero shows where an animal or even a human gets contaminated with something from a lab and it changes their physical form. And real mutations like the tater and tot as well as the Chernobyl dogs teach us so much about genetics and help us further our understanding of them
I’m particularly fascinated with conjoined/fused twin animals and animals with split/double heads/faces, like janus cats. I don’t know why exactly, it’s just… fascinating! Maybe because the chances of it happening are so low, like what were the odds? But it did happen, and sometimes they survive and sometimes they don’t, but they EXIST against all odds and it’s amazing.
When my elementary school raised a big tank full of salmon fry, I noticed a pair of twins that were both attached to the same yolk sac, one on each side, so that one of them was always upside-down. As their yolk finished absorbing, they ended up fused along the belly, and they were smaller than the others since they’d each only gotten half the nutrients from the yolk. They couldn’t swim very well and died after a couple of weeks, but my teacher knew how obsessed with them I was, so she saved their body(ies?) for me, and I still have them all dried up in a little glass jar. My conjoined twin salmon fry. SO cool and weird and tragic and incredible.
@ that is both epic and gross. Rock on 🤘
🤣🤣🤣
I really hope that they are internally connected enough that Tot is able to take nutrients from the food Tater is consuming, and that at least Tater has a proper digestive system. Though that would require little Tater to eat for the two))
And thank you so much for being upfront about not forcefully keeping them alive for longer if their system starts to fail! Their condition is fascinating, but they still deserve respect and care, even if that means that we'll have to let them go
They are conjoined twins so yes they share any and all nutrients that enter the body. She should really take them in for an x-ray or MRI to see how and where they are connected.
I actually address this in a different video. I have spoken to a handful of exotic vets, and all of them have told me the same thing. Tater and Tot need to be about subadult size (ish) to have any chance of seeing anything at all. I absolutely plan on doing this when we have a chance to see something.
@@creaturecovethat makes sense. When the video first starts and TT is shown I was surprised by how small they looked. It caught me off guard. Their “conjoin-ness” is actually one of the most common type I’ve seen. Not that it is the most common just the most common I’ve seen. They probably share a stomach and liver but have a good chance of having 2 hearts and maybe 2-3 lungs. It’s all so fascinating. I don’t know a lot about the anatomy of human or animal so my guesses could be far off the mark.
Thanks for the update. I love that they are doing good, and it's too cute when the back foot goes on his head . My 6 year old son is gonna love watching this in the morning .when you asked in the beginning what names to use for them, he told me to write tater and tot ❤ so he believes that he named them 😊
Awe, I love that!!
Maybe they share most of their digestive system but only one head gets the hunger signals?
Would they like some grass or twigs in their house? Camouflage may help them to feel more in their natural environment.
Head empty, no thoughts, only flailing leggies lol. I'm so happy that they are doing so well. Congrats on keeping them healthy!
Wow! What delightful little fellows! I don't have very high expectations for their lifespan, but I certainly have the highest hopes for it. I'm so glad they have somebody who really cares for them on their side.
it's really interesting how we can observe something that is essentially guaranteed in the harsh unforgiving environment of nature to not succeed... at least to the degree to allow for study in the wild. but the care and love shown here lets this creature thrive and we can observe how a creature with biology like this functions. it's equally fascinating and wholesome
It could just be sound, like when you hear someone yawn and then you yawn. And maybe a little pavlovian too? If they usually hear the other one eating while they eat, maybe hearing the other eating makes them hungry.
I kind of get the feeling there's a battle for dominance going on. The main head looks a little like it resents the second head and the second head looks depressed. I wonder if two brains are battling to figure out what the body wants. But the main one really kind of looks like it wants to wipe the second head off.
Tater!! stop stepping on your brothers head!! but no really theyre so precious, thank you for treating them so humanely. im fascinated to see an animal like this having lived so long so far. no matter what the little guys had the best life possible, i hope
Incredible!!!! They are so interesting! Congrats on keeping them alive and doing so well. What an anomaly. I really hope they make it to adulthood. I feel like Tater is the dominant gecko that will more often feed/controls the body etc. Tot may even stop feeding completely and let Tater do the hunting and eating. It's cool that they are both eating as of now though. Super interesting! I'm subbing to your channel to make sure I don't miss any updates on these precious little mutants. Best of luck with them!!
I breed geckos myself, I would love to one day hatch pout something THIS unique and special (as long as it's healthy!) So neat to watch and learn from.
So I'm not a biology person, but I'm wondering something. Bear with me because I probably won't be able to articulate it correctly, but: What I know at a basic level is that the spine is way more connected to the neuron system than we realize. There's a channel called Roanoke Gaming who does a lot of biology stuff and I remember he discussed some experimentation by a company where a man who was paralyzed from the waist down had something implemented like a neural bridge on his spine, so when he thought about moving his leg, his leg was able to twitch. I wonder if when Tater or Tot (whichever one) instinctively starts licking, the neuron signals traveling along the spine also make their way to the other one and that tells him to lick as well. Again, I'm probably wording it insanely wrong, but it's just a hypothesis.
That was way better articulated than what I tried conveying in the video😆
This^ So, to put it plainly, Their spines being connected means they share impulses. The nerves in your brain are connected to the spine, so when they "get a signal," it's highly possible that signal is sent to both brains.
It's also highly possible, that, with their water, they both just lick at the same time cause there's water all around them. Likely though, it's a combo of both!
@@BeckyNosferatu Thank you so much, I wasn't able to put it into the proper terminology XD
I don't think this is very likely. I think the suggestion elsewhere in the comments that it's hormonally mediated makes more sense. Hormones related to hunger can easily reach both brains via the bloodstream, but since tongue movement is controlled by nerves that don't usually stray too far from their destination, it's unlikely this contributes directly. Maybe gecko nervous systems have some weirdness there, and they're definitely sharing parts of that system, but the connection seems far too low unless signals from the GI tract are involved somehow which doesn't seem too likely for voluntary movements like that.
@@SariEverna You... do know that hormone response is sent down your spine, right? Not trying to diss, but that's basically what the "signal" would be. Hormones are transferred via blood to nerves, but also down the spinal column as spinal fluid.
So, I've developed some muscle tension issues after a surgery, particularly in my neck and chest, and one thing I can definitely tell you is that I feel a lot of stuff in neck muscles all the way into my torso, down to my navel.
I still struggle with being touched in the lower ribs at times, but muscles like the Sternocleidomastoid and Digastric muscles can help provide indirect relief through my entire front.
Tongue pulls are also quite an intense sensation that I have to be careful with, or risk triggering guarding behavior in what seems to be my intercastals and diaphragm.
So, from personal experience, I could absolutely believe that these critters are experiencing at least some synchronous sensation into their torso, just when licking.
I wouldn't imagine its necessarily painful, but they're silly lil babies, and probably have to learn to coordinate such a dexterous organ
It could more be a “monkey see - monkey do” type situation. They have total separate brains so they aren’t mentally linked at all.
The sound effects you added are great!
Thanks!!
My guess would be is that it's a sensory thing. We know from human conjoined twins that their nervous systems are sometimes linked so that one can feel, for example, if you touch a spot on the others body.
So I reckon you get one Gecko licking and that causes the other to either register the taste or the feeling of having something on its tongue so it will start licking as well.
1:30 the sound affects is whats making it so funny 😂
poor Tot, Tater’s hogging their shared brain cell
I’m so glad they’re doing well! These little fellas are so cute!!!
You're such a good gecko mom lol
Maybe because it looks like they r attached by their stomachs,so maybe once one eats or drinks the other gets the feeling in their stomachs n makes it try. Idk thats my guess on y they do the tounge thing. So cute i hope they thrive!❤
A real life hydra!? Tater and Tot are so cute 😊
I have to wonder how they are gonna manage shedding. They're very interesting!
Thank you for this update on these two ❤ glad they are doing so well 😊
I would contact the local zoo for information they would probably be interested too. 😢❤
Clint's Reptiles is a biologist, so maybe he can help in explaining the possible biology going on!
I think it's a good idea to test your idea to try and prove it wrong. It seems possible to me that, because their little nervous systems should be roughly the same on both sides, that they could be linked purely by environmental factors.
Like if you offer food at the same time, I'd think they'd have about the same delay even if they were entirely independent lizards. They are identical twins!
But that's also pretty easy to test, I figure? Assuming they both usually take water pretty consistently, you could try offering one some water and wait for a controlled amount of time before giving water to the other. If they still lick at the same time, that rules out "they just have a common environment and identical reaction times" as a cause for this, which means you have something more interesting on your hands 😊
Glad to see the little nuggets are doing well, and happy to hear you'll let nature take its course. Be well ❤
Its possible for conjoined geckos to eat, if the both heads has brains, and possible moving the heads differently, but they have only 1 stomach, so id make sure they dont eat too much^^depending of course the parts of conjoining. But the leg/arm seems to be conjoined on the skin^^. im sure the 2 headed gecko lives a happy life hopefully😇🥰
Were treading into some new territory.
Crazy stuff.
are they ever going to get big enough that you might get them taken for a scan at the vet, so that one has a better idea of what's going on in there? i hope they both do alright.
i guess there is one way to tell if their stomach is shared or if they have their own right - like you know, does their butt seem to be doing double duty?
She said in a previous video that they need to reach about 4 grams in weight before the vet can do the scans
I don’t think the tongues are connected But in the video clip it look like one was reacting to the other one. so maybe they’re not linked, but they’re getting better at moving as one body.
They sure are cute. 😊
I wonder if it might be helpful to have another crested gecko baby in view during feeding time, to encourage communal eating?
He sits between 2 other babies. Unfortunately, I don't think they have mastered the art of locomotion to get to the bowl and be able to successfully eat.
does it have two minds, or just one?
Now is it a gecko with two heads, or two geckos sharing one body?
thats so interesting!
It's a wild Zweilous! Where's the Pokeball?!
King ghidora jr.
Do they both trigger the other to start, or does one trigger the other but not the other way around, I wonder?
Crazy.
Poor squirmies and crics.
Cuties
I think you are crazy, but you are definitely right there is some link to their actions.
And yes im saying the first half just for the sake of it.
Thusly i suppose its a compliment xD
Best of luck to the little ones
Im not sure m8, my farmgirl heart tells me it’s animal cruelty to keep such a malformed animal alive, may sound cruel but you don’t know if it’s suffering due to more internal malformations or just plain mental trauma
Edit:
You are definetly atleast responsible to have the lil guys shown to a vet
I'm a farm girl as well. We don't all share your mentality. I have also worked as a vet tech for many, many years. I know what to look for as far as signs of suffering. This little one shows none. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I am always curious about others' opinions and the thought process behind it.
@@creaturecove in that case im glad, i was just rly concerned cuz animals suffering is smth that really gets to me and i was concerned abt the lil guy(guys) glad to know he is in good hands tho, whilst maybe not the most pleasent existence for an animal it is certainly highly interesting and unique, hope they have a long and happy life without suffering from the malformation