Rare Conjoined Turtle Twins Separated with Surgery Hours After Birth

Two eastern box turtles made a remarkable entrance into the world as conjoined twins at the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke, where they underwent surgery just hours after hatching to be safely separated.

The animal rescue shared the extraordinary event in a Sept. 13 Facebook post, explaining that staff were assisting with the hatching of three eggs laid by rescue turtles when they noticed one egg looked unusual.

While the first two eggs hatched normally, the third revealed a smaller, more peculiar hatchling. Upon closer inspection, the team discovered that the egg contained twins.

“The Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center has hatched state-threatened Eastern Box Turtles, and even more rare, we successfully hatched twins from the same egg!” the rescue wrote.

In a follow-up post, the center described the twins as being connected by a “vascularized tissue” at the bottom of their shells.

“For the first day, we separated them from their larger siblings so they could have space and peace to hatch on their own for 24 hours,” the center explained, noting that the decision was made with guidance from their veterinary team and reptile specialists.

When the twins still had not fully emerged the next afternoon, veterinarians carefully removed them from their shell. Both hatchlings were fully formed, each with its own yolk, though the yolks were conjoined.

“We needed to act quickly to separate them,” the rescue added.

Weighing just 3 grams each, the tiny turtles were taken into surgery to have the connecting tissue cut and their yolk sacs sewn closed.

“This way, both babies could keep their yolks, and the separation wound would scab over. This is the best possible outcome for the twin turtles,” the center said.

The wildlife center noted that if the hatchlings survive the next few weeks and begin feeding, their chances of eventual release into the wild are high.

On Sept. 18, the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke shared an update that all four hatchlings—including the former twins—“are doing what tiny turtles do best.”

“They hide in their substrate, they grow, and they try to stay out of sight to avoid predators. All of their yolks have absorbed, and they are sharing a large naturalistic enclosure while they are small,” the rescue said.

Chester Leonard, the center’s executive director, called the birth a “momentous occasion” in an interview with The Washington Post.

“We’re thrilled,” Leonard said. “We’ve never had this before.”

The eastern box turtle is considered a threatened species by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, facing pressures from habitat loss and the pet trade. Baby turtles are particularly vulnerable, with survival rates to adulthood estimated at less than 0.1%.

The center typically cares for 30 to 50 of these “imperiled species” at a time, ensuring that hatchlings like these twins have the best possible chance to thrive.