Rare Case of Conjoined Lizard Twins Reported at Zoo

by Agata Blaszczak-Boxe, Contributing Writer | February 06, 2015 06:14am ET

In a first-of-its-kind case, a pair of conjoined lizards called Quince monitor lizards were discovered at a German zoo, according to a new report. The lizards were dead when they were discovered.

The animals were found in June 2009 in a clutch deposited in a terrarium at the Cologne Zoo, in Germany.Other cases of conjoined twins have been reported in reptiles such as turtles, crocodiles and other lizard species, according to the report.

The parents of the conjoined lizards were siblings that were kept together at the zoo. Another clutch from the same parents, laid in September 2009, included a dead, malformed hatchling.

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Tiger Shot Dead After Killing Zookeeper

A tiger has been shot dead after killing a female zookeeper in Germany.

Police said the giant male cat, called Altai, appears to have walked through a gate which was not shut properly at Cologne Zoo.

It got into an adjacent storage building, and mauled the 43-year-old keeper, who later died of her wounds in hospital.

The zoo's director Theo Pagel told how he used a rifle to shoot the four-year-old Siberian tiger through the building's skylight before it could make its way to the visitor areas.

"Today is surely the most terrible day in my career. We have lost a keeper today who was attacked by our male tiger," he added.

"As it appears, it was a question of inadvertence. Out of respect for the family, we will not name the person.

"I was not at the zoo at the time, and I only came later and shot and killed the animal so that we could enter the enclosure and take a look.

"But the employee was already dead."

Police said it was unlikely that members of the public had witnessed the attack which happened at noon on Saturday.

Officers briefly cleared the area, but the zoo later reopened for visitors.

Cologne Zoo was founded in 1860, and is one of the oldest and best-known zoos in the country. It is home to some 10,000 animals from 700 species.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/tiger-kills-keeper-german-zoo-120829386.html