For now Gilbert and Sullivan is its, or their, name. However, if it, or they, turns out to be a girl the name will change to Thelma and Louise.

Gilbert and Sullivan, christened by zoology graduate student Nirvana Filoramo, is a very special snapping turtle hatched at Iowa State just in time for the first day of classes. It, or maybe more appropriately they, is a Siamese turtle.

Dr. Fredric Janzen, department of zoology and genetics, said “I’m not sure if its actually a they or an it.” However, he said both heads are alive and are distinct individuals.

“The two heads are different. They try to go different ways. The right head controls the right side of the body and the left head controls the left side,” Janzen said. He said he thinks this may be the result of two distinct nervous systems.

Lisa Solberg, a junior in biology, was the first to discover what a special turtle was hatched in Science II. She checked on the turtle eggs every day to watch the progress of pipping, when the turtle starts to break through its shell, and hatching, when the turtle actually leaves the egg.

When Solberg checked on the eggs Friday night, Aug. 23, she noticed Gilbert and Sullivan.

“I saw their two heads and four front arms, and I thought it was two complete twins,” Solberg said. “I checked to see if they were alive. One bit a little of the shell, and the other moved its leg, so I knew they were both fully developed. Then I peaked inside and saw that they shared a shell, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh! Its a Siamese twin.'”

Gilbert and Sullivan also shares its two hind legs.

Siamese turtles are incredibly rare and very valuable. This is the first one Janzen has ever seen in over a decade of working with turtles and thousands of turtle eggs hatched.

Gilbert and Sullivan appear to be in good health. “It has a good chance of living,” Janzen said.

At this point, Janzen said, he just wants to grow Gilbert and Sullivan as big as possible. “It is no longer part of any experiments.”

Originally, it was part of an experiment with the way temperature during incubation effects the sex of turtles. Cold temperatures tend to produce males and warm temperatures yield females. Janzen said that with the temperature Gilbert and Sullivan was incubated at, though, it could turn out to be either. It is currently to soon to tell.

When Gilbert and Sullivan grows older, its value will increase. Janzen half jokingly said, “then we’ll sell it and use the money for more student research. Funds are tight.”

In the mean time, Gilbert and Sullivan is a department favorite.

Solberg said, “I just don’t want them to be exploited as if they’re mutants that should be on the National Globe.”