dog with two heads experiment

How Vladimir Demikhov Actually Made A Two-Headed Dog

Though it's hard to believe that soviet scientist vladimir demikhov actually made a two-headed dog, these surreal photos are the proof..

Calling Soviet doctor Vladimir Demikhov a mad scientist may be undercutting his contributions to the world of medicine, but some of his radical experiments certainly fit the title. Case in point — though it may seem like myth, propaganda, or a case of photoshopped history — in the 1950s, Vladimir Demikhov actually created a two-headed dog.

Vladimir Demikhov’s Pioneering Career In Medical Research

Even before creating his two-headed dog, Vladimir Demikhov was a pioneer in transplantology — he even coined the term. After transplanting a number of vital organs between dogs (his favorite experimental subjects) he aimed, amid much controversy, to see if he could take things further: He wanted to graft the head of one dog onto the body of another, fully intact dog.

Bettmann/Getty Images Laboratory assistant Maria Tretekova lends a hand as noted Russian surgeon Dr. Vladimir Demikhov feeds the two-headed dog he created by grafting the head and two front legs of a puppy onto the back of the neck of a full-grown German shepherd.

Starting in 1954, Demikhov and his associates set about performing this surgery 23 times, with varying degrees of success. The 24th time, in 1959, was not the most successful attempt, but it was the most publicized, with an article and accompanying photos appearing in LIFE Magazine . This is thus the two-headed dog that history remembers most.

For this surgery, Demikhov chose two subjects, one a large stray German Shepherd that Demikhov named Brodyaga (Russian for “tramp”) and a smaller dog named Shavka. Brodyaga would be the host dog, and Shavka would supply the secondary head and neck.

With Shavka’s lower body amputated below the forelegs (keeping her own heart and lungs connected until the last minute before the transplant) and a corresponding incision in Brodyaga’s neck where Shavka’s upper body would attach, the rest was mainly vascular reconstruction — other than attaching the vertebrae of the dogs with plastic strings, that is.

Bettmann/Getty Images Vladimir Demikhov’s lab assistants feed the two-headed dog made from Brodyaga and Shavka after the surgery.

Thanks to the team’s wealth of experience, the operation took a mere three and a half hours. After the two-headed dog was resuscitated, both heads could hear, see, smell, and swallow. Although Shavka’s transplanted head could drink, she was not connected to Brodyaga’s stomach. Anything she drank flowed through an external tube and onto the floor.

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The Sad Fate Of Demikhov’s Two-Headed Dog

In the end, this two-headed dog lived only for just four days. Had a vein in the neck area not accidentally gotten damaged, it may have lived even longer than Demikhov’s longest-living two-headed dog, which survived 29 days.

Even setting aside the deaths of the canine subjects, the moral implications of Demikhov’s experiment are tricky. This head transplantation, unlike some of his other advancements in the field of transplantology, had no real-life applications. Yet there were certainly very real implications for the dogs.

Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images Vladimir Demikhov with his two-headed dog.

However, as outrageous as this all sounds, a head transplant wasn’t even that radical for the 1950s. As early as 1908, the French surgeon Dr. Alexis Carrel and his partner, American physiologist Dr. Charles Guthrie, attempted the same experiment. Their dual-headed canine initially showed promise, but degraded quickly and was euthanized within a few hours.

Today, Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero believes that head transplants will be a reality in the very near future. He is closely involved in the first human attempt, which is slated to occur in China, where there are fewer medical and ethical regulations. Canavero said last year , “They have a tight schedule but the team in China say they are ready to do it.”

Nevertheless, most everyone else in the medical community believes that a transplant of this kind is still science-fiction fodder. But in the not-too-distant future, such a surgery may actually become a reality.

After this look at how Vladimir Demikhov created a two-headed dog, see some astounding photos of two-headed animals found in nature . Then, read up on Laika, the Cold War-era Soviet dog who was sent into space and became the first animal to orbit the Earth .

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How Vladimir Demikhov Actually Made A Two-Headed Dog

Table of Contents:

After transplanting a number of vital organs between dogs, his favorite experimental subjects, he aimed amid much controversy to see if he could take things further; he wanted to graft the head of one dog onto the body of another fully intact dog. Starting in 1954, Demikhov and his associates set about performing this surgery 23 times with varying degrees of success. The 24th time, in 1959, was not the most successful, but it was the most publicized, with an article and accompanying photos appearing in Life magazine. Demikhov chose two topics. one large straight German shepherd that Demikhov named Brodiaga in Russian, and a smaller dog named Shafka.

Has there ever been conjoined dogs?

A female pair of conjoined twins of the Lhasa Apso canine breed was subjected to tomographic and anatomical examinations. The twins had only one head and neck. The two ribcages were joined, extending to the umbilicus, with duplicated structures thereafter.

Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28940234/

Rodiaga would be the host dog, and schaefka would supply the secondary head and neck with shake his lower body amputated below the four legs keeping her own heart and lungs connected until the last minute before the transplant and a corresponding incision in brodiaga’s neck where schaefer’s upper body would attach the rest was mostly vascular reconstruction other than attaching the dogs’ vertebrae with plastic strings thanks to the team’s wealth of experience Unlike some of his other breakthroughs in the field of transplantology, this head transplant had no real-world applications, but it had very real implications for the dogs. As outrageous as this all sounds, a head transplant wasn’t even that radical for the 1950s; in 1908, French surgeon Dr. Alexis Carroll and his partner, American physiologist Dr. Charles Guthrie, attempted the same experiment. Their dual-headed canine initially showed p Canavero stated last year that they have a tight schedule, but the team in China says they are ready to go anyway.

Most of the medical community believes that a transplant of this kind is still science fiction fodder, but in the not-too-distant future, such a surgery may become a reality.

Q&A – 💬

❓ how did vladimir demikhov make a two-headed dog.

Vladimir Demikhov feeds the two-headed dog he created by grafting the head and two front legs of a puppy onto the back of the neck of a full-grown German shepherd . Starting in 1954, Demikhov and his associates set about performing this surgery 23 times, with varying degrees of success.

❓ What was the two-headed dog experiment and why?

The breakthrough creation of a two-headed dog In 1954, Demikhov successfully grafted the head of a smaller puppy onto a grown-up dog .

• He sewed dogs' circulatory systems together and connected their vertebrae with plastic strings.
• The puppy's head growled and snarled.
• It licked the hand which caressed it.

❓ What was the Soviet 2 headed dog experiment?

You're looking at the horror film-esque result of an early transplant procedure by Soviet scientist Vladimir Demikhov, and it's really more like a one-and-a-half dog—Demikhov successfully grafted the head and forelegs of a smaller dog, Shavka onto a bigger dog, Brodyaga. Both initially survived the procedure.

❓ Has there ever been a dog with 2 heads?

In 1968, Demikhov transplanted another puppy's head onto the neck of another dog .

• The creatures survived for 38 days.
• Its bodies were then stuffed and in 1988 given to Riga's Museum of History of Medicine.
• For the past two years, it has travelled around Germany for exhibitions.

References:

• “The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin” by Steven Lee Myers – Simon & Schuster UK, 2015
• “The Invention of the Modern Dog: Breed and Blood in Victorian Britain” by Michael Worboys, Julie-Marie Strange, Neil Pemberton – Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018
• “The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behaviour and Interactions with People” by James Serpell, Priscilla Barrett – Cambridge University Press, 1995
• “Mason’s World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding, 2 Volume Pack” by Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, et. al. – CABI, 2016

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Norman ⁤Chapman, ‍a name that ⁤may​ not ring⁤ a bell‍ to many, but to those who⁢ are well-versed in the world of percussion, he is a ⁣legend. As ⁤an unsung hero of the ​drumming community, Chapman’s contributions to‍ the ‍art form are undeniable. From his early ⁢days in the music scene to his rise‌ to prominence ‌as a sought-after session player, Chapman’s story is one ⁣that deserves to be told. In this article, we will⁢ delve into the⁢ life and​ legacy ⁢of Norman Chapman, exploring⁢ his impact ⁢on ‍the world of ⁢drumming and the lasting impression he has ⁢left ‌on the music industry.

Table of Contents

• Unveiling the Legacy ⁢of Norman Chapman
• Exploring‍ the Impact of Chapman’s Work on Modern Art
• Norman Chapman: A​ Pioneer in Abstract​ Expressionism
• Recommendations for ⁤Appreciating Chapman’s Artistry Today
• To ⁤Wrap ⁢It Up

Unveiling ⁢the Legacy of Norman ⁣Chapman

When one thinks ⁢of influential figures in the ⁣world of art⁢ and⁢ design, Norman Chapman may not ‌be the first name ⁤that comes ⁣to ⁤mind. However, ‍his contributions to the field have left a lasting impact that is ⁣still felt today. Known for his innovative and forward-thinking⁢ approach,⁤ Chapman’s work pushed the boundaries of traditional design​ and paved the way for future generations‍ of artists.

• Chapman’s ⁤early ‌work in the 1950s was marked by his unique use of color⁢ and form. He was⁢ not afraid ‍to experiment⁢ with different ​mediums and techniques, resulting​ in‌ a body of work ‍that ‍was both⁣ diverse​ and⁣ cohesive.
• His later work in the 1970s‌ and 1980s saw a shift towards ‍more minimalist designs,⁣ with a focus on ⁢functionality and simplicity. Despite this change in style, Chapman’s work remained distinctly⁣ his own, with a strong‌ emphasis on craftsmanship ​and attention ⁢to detail.

In addition to his contributions ⁣to the world of art and design, Chapman was also a respected educator. ‍He taught ​at several prestigious ⁣institutions, ‌including the Rhode Island⁢ School of Design and​ the Art​ Institute ⁤of Chicago . His teachings have influenced countless artists and designers, ⁢many of whom have gone on to achieve ⁢great success ‍in their own right.

Chapman’s legacy ​continues to inspire and influence ⁢the art⁤ and design world. His work is a reminder that creativity knows no⁤ bounds, and that true innovation ⁣comes from⁤ breaking away from the‌ expected and ⁤embracing the ⁤unknown.

Exploring the ‍Impact of‌ Chapman’s Work on Modern Art

Norman Chapman’s work is often seen ​as a‌ bridge between ‍the⁣ traditional and the contemporary, blending classical techniques with modern⁣ themes. His influence on the art world can ⁢be seen‍ in⁢ numerous ways,‌ from the way he​ approached⁤ color and ‌form, to⁣ his ⁤innovative use of materials. ⁤Chapman’s⁣ work ​challenged ‍the norms of his‍ time, pushing the boundaries of what was considered acceptable ⁣in⁣ the art ⁢world.

One⁢ of⁢ the most significant impacts of Chapman’s work is his exploration‌ of ‌the human form.⁣ He was known⁢ for his bold and ‌expressive ⁤use ‌of line,⁣ creating ‍dynamic ⁤and⁤ powerful figures⁤ that resonated with‌ viewers.⁢ Chapman’s work also often included elements of abstraction, blending ​realism with more conceptual ideas. ‌This approach ‍has ⁢inspired many⁤ contemporary artists, who have taken Chapman’s ideas and expanded​ on them in ⁤their own work.

• Use of vibrant and bold colors
• Innovative‌ approach to⁤ mixed media
• Exploration‌ of⁤ social and⁢ political ⁣themes

Chapman’s legacy can also be seen ⁢in‌ the way he approached the role of the artist in society. He ⁣was⁢ known ​for his activism and used his ⁢art as a platform to⁣ address social and political ‌issues. This ⁤has encouraged ‍many​ modern artists ‌to use‍ their work as a ‍means of⁤ sparking conversation and effecting change. Chapman’s work continues to ⁢be an⁤ important influence in the‌ art world,​ inspiring ‌artists to push the‌ limits of‌ what is ⁢possible.

Norman​ Chapman: A Pioneer in ‌Abstract Expressionism

Norman Chapman was a trailblazer ​in‌ the world ⁢of ⁤abstract ‍expressionism. His⁢ bold use of color, texture,⁣ and form set ⁣him⁢ apart from ⁢his contemporaries and​ established him as a ‌leader in ‌the‌ movement. ‌His ⁣innovative techniques and⁢ fearless ⁤experimentation with new materials pushed the boundaries of what was considered “acceptable” in‌ the art world.

Chapman’s early ⁢work‍ was heavily influenced⁢ by ‍the likes of ​Jackson Pollock and Willem de ​Kooning, but he quickly⁢ developed his own unique style. His large-scale canvases⁣ were filled with ⁣dynamic, gestural brushstrokes and ‍a vibrant palette ‍that captured ⁣the energy ​and⁤ emotion of⁤ the post-war era.

• Inspired by⁢ jazz music, Chapman⁣ often painted to the sounds of‍ bebop and hard bop, infusing his work with a sense of rhythm and movement.
• He was also known for ‍his⁣ use ‍of non-traditional ⁣materials, such ⁤as sand ⁤and broken⁤ glass, which added texture and ⁤depth to⁣ his pieces.
• Despite ⁣facing criticism from more traditional art critics, Chapman remained steadfast in⁢ his vision and⁣ continued to push the ‌limits of abstract⁣ expressionism.

Chapman’s impact​ on​ the art world cannot be understated. ⁤His influence can be ⁤seen in the work of countless artists who followed in his footsteps, and his paintings continue to ‍be celebrated ‍in galleries and museums ‍around the world.

Through his work, Norman Chapman⁤ challenged ‌viewers to‌ see beyond the traditional boundaries ‍of art‍ and to find beauty in ‌the chaos and complexity of the abstract world.

Recommendations for⁤ Appreciating ‌Chapman’s⁣ Artistry‌ Today

Norman Chapman’s artistry is a treasure that deserves to be appreciated by⁣ art ⁣enthusiasts and casual observers ⁤alike. To fully experience ​the depth and beauty of his⁣ work, there are several recommendations⁢ that can ‌enhance your ‌appreciation.​

Firstly, take ​the time ⁤to study⁢ the details of his pieces.​ Chapman’s ​attention to⁤ detail is exquisite, ⁢and‍ the more you look, ​the more you’ll find. Notice the intricate ⁤brushstrokes, the subtle​ use of‌ color, and the‌ way⁣ he captures ⁤light and shadow.

Another way⁢ to appreciate Chapman’s artistry is ‌to understand the context in which⁢ it ⁤was created. Research the historical and cultural influences that⁢ shaped his ‌work,‍ and⁢ consider how these‍ factors are ⁣reflected in his‍ art. This will give you a deeper appreciation for the ‌significance ⁢of​ his pieces.

Here are some additional recommendations for appreciating Chapman’s ⁤artistry:

– Visit galleries‍ and museums that showcase his work to ⁢see⁢ it in person – Attend lectures or discussions about his⁢ art to gain insights‌ from experts – Participate in art workshops that ⁣focus on his techniques and style

By following these recommendations, ‍you ⁣can ‍fully immerse yourself in the⁣ world of Norman Chapman and ‌gain‍ a greater appreciation⁣ for his remarkable artistry.

Q: Who​ is Norman Chapman? A: Norman Chapman is⁢ a‌ renowned⁣ author ​and lecturer known for his expertise​ in economics and‌ public policy.

Q:‍ What is Norman Chapman’s⁤ background in economics? A: Chapman holds a PhD ‍in ‍economics⁣ from Harvard University and ‍has published numerous scholarly articles and ⁣books on economic ‍theory and ​public policy.

Q:⁢ What ​are some of Norman ⁣Chapman’s most notable works ? A: Chapman’s book “Economics in the Modern World” is ⁣widely⁤ regarded as⁢ a seminal work in the ⁢field of economics. ​He ⁣has also‌ authored several‌ influential papers on⁣ topics such as income inequality and economic development.

Q: What are some of⁣ the key themes that Norman Chapman explores in his writing? A:⁢ Chapman’s work⁤ often delves into the intersection⁢ of⁣ economics and social welfare, ​examining the impact of ‍economic‍ policies on issues such as‌ poverty, education, and healthcare.

Q: In⁢ addition ⁢to his writing,‌ what other ⁣activities is Norman Chapman involved in? A:​ In addition to his writing and research, Chapman is also a sought-after speaker and‍ lecturer, and has served as a consultant for various government agencies and non-profit organizations.

Q: What is Norman ⁤Chapman’s⁢ approach to teaching and ‌education? A: Chapman is ​known for his engaging ‍and accessible teaching ​style,‍ and is committed to ‌making complex ⁤economic concepts understandable ‍and ‍relevant to ‍a wide audience.

Q:⁤ What is the significance‍ of​ Norman⁤ Chapman’s work in‌ the field of ⁢economics? A: Chapman’s work has had a significant impact⁢ on the ⁤study⁤ and‍ practice of economics, shaping the way we‌ understand and address critical social and economic issues. ​

To‍ Wrap It Up

In conclusion, Norman Chapman’s impact on the field ‍of economics and his dedication to ‌education and research ⁢are undeniable. ⁣His​ innovative⁣ ideas and passion for ⁤the subject have left a⁤ lasting‍ impression ⁣on the‍ academic‍ community.‌ As he continues to inspire ‌and influence ‌future​ generations of economists, it is clear that Norman ‍Chapman’s contributions will be felt for years ‌to‌ come.

The Shocking Two-Headed Dog Experiment: A Tragic Tale

In ‌the mid-20th ‌century, a ⁣controversial and‍ ethically questionable experiment ‍took place that shocked the world. It involved a two-headed dog, ⁣created by Soviet scientist Vladimir Demikhov. The story of this creature is both fascinating and deeply disturbing, raising questions about ⁢the limits of scientific ethics ‍and the‌ struggle between progress ‌and‍ humanity. The experiment ⁢and its aftermath‍ serve as a haunting reminder of⁢ the moral responsibilities⁤ that come ⁣with scientific discovery.

• The ⁢Frankenstein ​of ⁤Science: The ⁤Two Headed ⁤Dog Experiment

Uncovering the Ethical Implications of Creating a Two Headed Creature

• The Horrifying Reality ‌of the Two⁤ Headed Dog ⁣Experiment⁣
• Why the Creation ⁢of a⁢ Two Headed‍ Animal Is a Moral Travesty

The Way Forward

The frankenstein of science: the ⁤two ⁤headed‍ dog experiment.

The two -headed ‌dog experiment is one of ‌the most controversial ‍and ethically questionable studies in the history‍ of science.⁣ Conducted⁣ in ⁣the mid-20th⁢ century, the experiment involved surgically creating⁢ a two-headed ⁤dog‍ and observing ‌its physiological and behavioral responses. The goal⁤ was to understand‌ the​ possibilities ​of organ transplant and the ‌potential ⁣of controlling the⁤ nervous system.

The⁣ experiment,​ however, raised​ serious ethical⁣ concerns and​ sparked ⁢widespread outrage. Despite⁤ the ‌scientific⁢ curiosity behind the study, the inhumane treatment of the animals involved‍ was deeply troubling. The image of a living,⁤ breathing creature with ​two heads, created ⁢through surgical intervention, is‌ a haunting representation of the​ extremes to⁣ which science ⁢can go in the ⁢pursuit ​of knowledge.

It serves as ⁣a reminder of the ethical ⁣responsibilities that scientists and‍ researchers ⁣bear, and⁤ the ‌consequences of‍ crossing ethical boundaries⁤ in the ‌name​ of scientific ‌progress. The two-headed⁢ dog experiment stands as a ⁤cautionary tale,⁣ highlighting the ethical implications of scientific exploration and the importance ​of upholding ​moral ⁤standards⁢ in the‌ pursuit of knowledge.

Creating a ‌two-headed​ creature, such as in the ⁣case of the two-headed dog experiment, ⁣raises ​grave ethical⁣ concerns ​that cannot be ‌ignored. The⁣ act‌ of deliberately manipulating an animal’s​ genetic‍ makeup⁢ and ⁣creating a creature with two heads is a⁤ controversial and morally⁤ dubious practice. It brings ⁣into ⁤question the boundaries ‌of scientific‌ experimentation and the treatment of living beings as mere ​subjects for scientific curiosity. ‌The‍ ethical implications ⁢of ⁤such experimentation are profound and cannot be overstated.

Uncovering the ethical implications of creating⁢ a two-headed ‌creature necessitates a critical examination ⁣of the following ​concerns:

• The welfare of⁢ the creature: Creating a ‌two-headed ⁢creature ‌raises significant ‍concerns⁤ about its quality ⁢of ‌life ⁤and​ overall well-being. How will such a creature fare in its environment, and what are the potential ⁤challenges it​ may face?
• The moral responsibility of‍ the ⁣creators:​ Scientists and researchers‌ involved in such experiments‍ must consider their moral responsibility towards the creatures ⁤they ⁣manipulate. ⁣What ‍ethical ‌guidelines should be in ⁢place⁢ to regulate ⁢such experimentation?

It is essential for society to engage in thoughtful‍ and respectful dialogue⁣ about the ethical⁣ implications ‌of creating ⁢a ⁣two-headed creature, such as ⁤in the case of the two-headed dog experiment.⁢ Only by carefully considering the ‍moral ​and ethical dimensions‌ of such practices can we navigate the ​complex intersection of ​science, morality,​ and respect ‌for living beings.

The Horrifying Reality of the Two​ Headed Dog Experiment

The two headed dog experiment, also known as the head transplantation experiment,⁤ has been the subject ⁣of‌ much‌ controversy‌ and ⁣ethical ‌debate. This horrifying experiment involved⁢ the ​surgical attachment of a second head⁤ to‌ a ​living dog, creating⁣ a two-headed‌ creature that⁢ was ⁤intended to demonstrate the possibility of transplanting ‍human⁣ heads onto donor ⁢bodies.‌ The ⁢experiment was ​conducted in the‌ 1950s ‍by⁣ Soviet ‌scientist⁤ Vladimir Demikhov, and ‍it has since become a haunting example of​ the extreme lengths to‍ which some researchers ⁤are⁢ willing to ⁤go in the name of scientific advancement.

The resulting ‌images and accounts of the two-headed dogs created by Demikhov⁣ are⁢ nothing short of chilling. The ⁤dogs were operated ⁢on⁤ without the ​use of anesthesia, and ​many of them‌ reportedly lived for several⁣ days before succumbing ​to the ‍trauma of⁣ the procedure. The ‌experiment highlights the dark side of scientific inquiry and serves as a grim reminder‍ of‍ the ethical boundaries​ that must be carefully‍ considered ⁢and respected in the pursuit of knowledge. The two headed dog experiment stands as ⁣a haunting symbol of⁣ the potential consequences of​ unchecked scientific ‍ambition ⁤and the ​need ‌for ethical oversight in the field⁣ of research.

Why the Creation of a ‍Two ​Headed Animal Is a Moral Travesty

The creation ⁤of ‍a ⁣two-headed⁣ animal through experimental procedures‌ has sparked ‌widespread moral and ‍ethical concerns. The recent controversial⁤ two-headed dog experiment has ignited passionate ⁢debates among ‌scientists,⁢ animal rights‌ activists, and ⁢the general public. This shocking scientific endeavor has raised ‍serious questions about ‍the boundaries⁤ of‍ ethical conduct⁣ in scientific ​research and the treatment‍ of animals.

This morally ‌dubious experiment has sparked outrage for several compelling reasons. **The ‌following points highlight⁤ the ethical travesty of ⁣creating a two-headed⁤ animal through⁣ scientific experimentation**: -‌ **Violation of⁤ animal rights**: The ⁣creation ‌of a​ two-headed ⁤dog ⁢represents a‍ blatant disregard for the welfare and rights ​of animals. It⁢ raises serious ethical concerns about the ​treatment of living ​beings⁣ in ⁤the name of⁣ scientific advancement. – **Lack ⁤of consideration ​for quality‌ of ⁢life**: Even if the experiment is deemed successful, the ⁢two-headed animal is likely to suffer from a diminished quality of⁤ life.‌ It is a cruel ⁢and​ inhumane​ act to subject an ​innocent creature to such a distressing and unnatural condition. – **Unnecessary scientific curiosity**: The experiment appears to ⁢be driven ⁤by⁣ the pursuit of ‍scientific curiosity rather than genuine necessity.‍ It​ showcases a disturbing lack of empathy and‍ ethical responsibility on the part⁤ of the researchers⁤ involved.

Q: What⁢ is the two headed dog experiment? A: The ‌two headed dog experiment refers to‌ a series‍ of ‍experiments conducted in the 1950s by⁣ Soviet scientist ⁢Vladimir⁤ Demikhov,‍ in which he surgically ⁣attached the head and⁢ upper body of one dog ⁤onto ⁤the body of‌ another dog.

Q:​ How⁤ did the public ⁤react‌ to this ⁢experiment? A: The public reacted with ⁣shock and horror to the news⁣ of these experiments, with many expressing outrage ⁤and disgust at the ethical implications of such a procedure.

Q: Why⁢ did the⁣ scientist conduct these‍ experiments? A: Demikhov ⁢conducted these ⁤experiments in an ​attempt to ⁤study ‍the possibility⁢ of transplanting vital⁤ organs ‌and extending the lives of patients with severe medical conditions . However, his methods⁢ were widely criticized for ​their inhumane⁤ nature.

Q: What were‍ the results of ⁢the experiments? A:⁤ The results⁤ of the experiments were largely unsuccessful, with the ‌majority of the hybrid dogs dying within a few days or weeks due to complications‌ and rejection‍ of the foreign tissue.

Q: How did the ⁣two headed ​dog ‍experiment impact scientific ‍ethics? A:⁣ The two headed​ dog experiment ‌sparked⁢ widespread debate ​and ​controversy regarding the ethical boundaries of scientific⁤ research, leading to ⁤increased scrutiny and regulations in ​the⁢ field of​ experimental surgery.

Q:⁢ What is the legacy of​ the two headed dog experiment? A: ⁤The two headed⁢ dog⁢ experiment has left a lasting legacy ⁤as ⁢a cautionary⁣ tale of ‍the​ dangers of⁢ unchecked scientific⁣ experimentation and the need for ethical considerations⁣ in the ⁣pursuit of⁢ medical advancements. It remains a⁤ haunting⁤ reminder of⁢ the potential consequences of disregarding ​the welfare of living‍ creatures in the name of progress.

In​ conclusion, the‍ story ‌of the two-headed dog experiment is a tragic reminder ⁢of ⁤the ethical boundaries that‌ should never be⁢ crossed in the pursuit‍ of scientific‌ advancement. The suffering endured⁤ by ‍these animals serves as a⁢ somber warning of‌ the potential consequences of ⁢unchecked‌ ambition‌ and the importance of‌ ethical considerations in the field⁣ of scientific⁢ research. As we reflect on the haunting image of a⁣ two-headed dog struggling ⁣to ⁣survive,⁤ let us ​remember the responsibility we⁢ have to‌ protect⁣ and respect the⁤ lives ​of ⁤all⁤ creatures, ⁢both ‌in the name of⁢ scientific progress and basic​ human decency. May the memory of these animals ⁤serve as a⁢ poignant reminder of the need for⁤ compassion and ethical consciousness ‍in the pursuit of knowledge.

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A dog with two heads: How a Soviet doctor pioneered organ transplantation against the odds

"The son of a peasant, Demikhov initially trained as a mechanic and repairman before enrolling in the biology department at Moscow State University. Here he thrived."

On April 11, 1959 the Associated Press circulated a message from Moscow: Russian doctors had transplanted a puppy’s head to the neck of a German shepherd and the two-headed beast was in good health. However, the American public - surprised by the sensational news - had not yet seen the shocking images. Only later would the photos of the experiment become public.

The pictures (which are, fair to say, objectively repulsive) document the ground-breaking experiment of a Soviet scientist leading the way in organ transplantation. By the time the news of the operation hit America in 1959, the surgeon - Vladimir Demikhov, 43 at the time - had already been performing transplants on dogs for five years.

None of the previously operated dogs has lived for more than six days. Pirat (the Russian word for Pirate) - the German shepherd operated on April 11 - proved an exception, however. The two-headed dog lived for three weeks while reacting to stimuli around it!

"By the time the news of the operation hit America in 1959, the surgeon - Vladimir Demikhov, 43 at the time - had already been performing transplants on dogs for five years."

A heart for two hours

The son of a peasant, Demikhov initially trained as a mechanic and repairman before enrolling in the biology department at Moscow State University. Here he thrived.

Demikhov performed his first ground-breaking experiment less than two years into his studies. In 1937, he sent shockwaves through Russia’s medical community when he created an artificial heart and successfully implanted it into a dog. The dog lived for two hours after surgery, pushing the borders of organ transplantation, a science scarcely studied in 1937 but vital for today’s medical world.

Demikhov’s later and bolder experiments attracted attention from across the Atlantic, as well as from Europe. Scientists in the West mostly believed organ transplantation was not possible because the patient’s immune system would reject the new addition.

Likely, this general skepticism was the main reason why the work of an American professor at Washington University - Dr. Charles C. Guthrie - who performed an experiment similar to Demikhov’s in 1908, was not followed up by his American colleagues.

Everything changed though when news about Demikhov’s success reached the U.S. In the 1960s, American doctors traveled to the Soviet Union to learn about innovative techniques used by Soviet surgeons. One of the key innovations, later adopted by the U.S., Canada, and Japan, was the use of staples to compress veins and arteries during operations, which dramatically reduced surgery time.

By 1962, a consensus of the American medical community had shifted and U.S. doctors, who saw Demikhov at work, gradually warmed to the possibility of successfully transplanting human organs.

Concise obituary

In 1965 Demikhov attended a medical conference where he proposed the creation of a bank where human organs could be stored for the needs of surgeons. The futuristic proposal, unthinkable at the time, sparked much anger among Soviet academics who criticized Demikhov and demanded the closure of his laboratory.

This took a toll on his health, his wife later recalled, and despite the fact Demikhov remained a director at the Russian Health Ministry Republican Center for Human Reproduction, his research efforts in organ transplantation declined, and his international fame wilted.

The pioneering scientist died in a small apartment on the outskirts of Moscow in 1998 at the age of 82. The true value of his experiments, which were observed with suspicion by the Soviet medical elites, were acknowledged by the Russian state at the end of his life. Demikhov was awarded the Order for Services for the Fatherland in 1998, the year of his death. However, the countless lives subsequently saved by organ transplants are his real legacy.  

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The history of the two-headed dog experiment

VLADIMIR DEMIKHOV WAS a pioneering surgeon.

Without his contributions to science and medicine, organ transplant and coronary surgery may not be as developed as it is today – a fact that is not well known because his papers were written in Russian while living on the bleaker side of the Cold War and through World War II.

Some of his peers noticed though.

Christiaan Neethling Barnard, the South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world’s first successful human-to-human heart transplant, said in 1997: “I have always maintained that if there is a father of heart and lung transplantation then Demikhov certainly deserves this title”.

Gazing back at Demikhov’s early experiments that led to many successes in the operation rooms, however, can offer an uncomfortable experience.

He was the first person to perform a successful coronary artery bypass operation on a warm-blooded creature but, yet, became more famous for his two-headed dog.

In fact, many of his  experiments were carried out on dogs. He transplanted lungs and hearts, took organs out to see how long dogs would survive and watched their reactions to the new organs.

By far the most unusual experiments and surgeries included the transplantation of the head or half the body. In 1948, he wrote about the “surgical combination of two animals with the creation of a single circulation”.

In this image, Demikhov shows photographers how he stitched the head and upper body of a two-month-old puppy onto the neck of a four-year-old mongrel Mukhtar.

The work was carried out in the reanimation lab of the A.A.Bogomolets Physiology Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.

In 1968, Demikhov transplanted another puppy’s head onto the neck of another dog. The creatures survived for 38 days. Its bodies were then stuffed and in 1988 given to Riga’s Museum of History of Medicine.

For the past two years, it has travelled around Germany for exhibitions. It returned to Latvia earlier this week.

(Warning: Graphic images that some viewers may find too disturbing)

(YouTube Credit: RussianFootageCom )

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Vladimir Demikhov and the Two-Headed Dog Experiment

Last updated on March 7th, 2024 at 02:03 am

Frankenstein may have had a kindred spirit with Soviet scientist Vladimir Demikhov. 

In 1954, Demikhov successfully grafted the head of a smaller dog onto the neck of a larger one, essentially creating a two-headed dog. 

A few years later, in 1959,  LIFE  magazine visited Demikhov to document what would be the 24th of his creative experiments on canines.

The  LIFE  team reported in detail the gruesome operation. After Demikhov prepared the dogs for surgery, he carved down through the smaller one, Shavka’s, flesh to her vital organs. 

Next, he severed her spine. The magazine article then picks up with this description:

“Although the rest of the body had now been amputated, Shavka’s head and forepaws still retained and used the lungs and heart. Now began the third and most critical phase of the transplantation. The main blood vessels of Shavka’s head had to be connected perfectly with the corresponding vessels of the host dog. Demikhov severed the small dog’s arteries and, with a surgical stapling machine which is the Russian’s special invention, swiftly spliced them into the exposed vessels in Brodyaga’s neck. Shavka’s own heart and lungs were then cut away.”

This nightmarish process resulted in a dog with an extra head that could eat and swallow but little else. 

The head was not connected to the rest of the larger dog’s organs, so all the food that the extra head ingested had to be pumped through a tube and discarded. 

Demikhov had proven that he could turn two healthy dogs into one bizarre-looking dog with a virtual death sentence (the longest living of Demikhov’s dogs lasted one month). But why did he do it?

Hearts and Heads: Vladimir Demikhov’s Strange Experiments

Although Shavka and Brodyaga (the larger dog) only survived for four days, they fared better than many of their predecessors, who quickly died. Overall, Demikhov made at least 20 head grafts throughout his career. 

His work, however, began with hearts.

In 1946, Demikhov began adding an extra heart to dogs to see if it would continue pumping blood. 

Although these second hearts only lasted a few months, he considered the experiments a success. He then wanted to test how much of a dog’s body a single heart could sustain, essentially doing the opposite of the previous heart experiments. 

To that end, he began grafting whole front ends of dogs onto his experimental victims. Shavka and Brodyaga were part of those efforts.

The most successful of Demikhov’s head grafts was undoubtedly a German Shepard named Pirat, who lived for a whole month as host to a smaller dog’s head. 

Demikhov was happy to note that the passenger’s head acted independently of the German Shepherd host, occasionally biting and nibbling Pirat’s ear.

If you’re wondering whether Demikhov had a guilty conscience about what he was doing to his dog subjects, he makes it pretty clear that he lost no sleep over the experiments. 

He claimed that “The big dog doesn’t understand” and that “he feels some kind of inconvenience, but he doesn’t know what it is.” He even joked that Brodyaga was a lucky dog because “You know the saying: two heads are better than one.”

Clearly, Demikhov wasn’t too concerned about the plight of his test subjects. But he wasn’t just carrying out these experiments as a cruel joke. He genuinely wanted to make organ transplants more effective in order to help accident victims who rely on these risky operations. 

In this, Vladimir Demikhov may have indirectly saved the lives of innumerable transplant survivors.

Vladimir Demikhov May Have Been Ahead of His Time

Despite the macabre nature of his experiments, Demikhov had a very good reason for conducting them. His goal was to help advance the science of organ transplants. But, ultimately, he wanted to save lives.

Vladimir Demikhov’s creativity began early. In 1937, when still a student at the University of Moscow, he invented a machine that could act in place of a heart and keep the body sustained with blood for up to five hours.

 It may not sound like much, but in those decades, this was a significant step forward.

During World War II, Demikhov was called to serve as a pathologist in a field hospital. 

Part of his job included evaluating injured soldiers to determine the cause of their injuries. You see, it was not uncommon for soldiers to shoot themselves to escape the front lines and spend the war in a hospital. 

The punishment for being caught faking an injury, however, was death. Demikhov saved many lives by lying about the nature of many soldiers’ self-inflicted injuries.

After the war, Demikhov returned to his experiments. By 1946, he managed to perform the transplantation of a heart and both lungs, which had never been done before. 

But then, during the 1950s, the Ministry of Health looked into Demikhov’s experiments and decided they were unethical. 

That could have been the end of Demikhov’s research; however, his boss at the Moscow Institute of Surgery was the chief army surgeon and thus was able to sidestep the ministry’s directive.

Demikhov continued on, and in 1953 he had his first successful coronary bypass surgery. It gained little attention. His first canine head transplant, which he performed the following year, got people’s attention. 

When the media caught wind of Demikhov’s unusual experiments, he immediately became the target of journalists, activists, and other medical professionals. His work, besides being seen as cruel, has no apparent possible real-world application.

However, others did see value in what Vladimir Demikhov was doing. As unsavory as his work may seem, his experiments were an important step toward figuring out how to carry out human transplants. 

Many of the techniques that he pioneered on dogs during the years of the Cold War have now become standard practice in hospitals around the world.

In 1967, the South African doctor Christian Barnard was the first to carry out a human-to-human heart transplant successfully. 

Years later, he acknowledged a debt of gratitude to Demikhov, saying, “I have always maintained that if there is a father of heart and lung transplantation, then Demikhov certainly deserves this title.”

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The Two-Headed Dog Experiment

Playing god in the name of science.

by Andrei Tapalaga | Sep 12, 2022 | Science

A pioneer in Transplantology

Dr. Vladimir Demikhov was a true pioneering surgeon that tried to find better ways to improve the death rate for common surgeries as well as prove to the world that a foreign organism can be compatible with another one. Many contemporary surgeons still name Demikhov as the father of transplant surgeries throughout his career.

In 1948, Demikhov was doing research, trying to prove that a single organism’s blood circulation system is strong enough to support another foreign organism, in this case, another head as the brain requires a high amount of blood and oxygen to function properly. In the same year, he wrote some theoretical papers about the “surgical combination of two animals with the creation of a single circulation”.

He never took into consideration what people would think or say about this experiment/procedure as he was doing all of this in the name of science and to offer better alternatives to those that have problems with their organs. This procedure inspired the first successful human-to-human heart transplant which took place in 1967.

An impossible task

At the time as you can imagine due to the poor technological advances in the medical world, such a procedure seemed impossible to most people, even world-renowned surgeons thought that Demikhov was crazy trying to actually think that such a procedure is possible. From 1954 to 1959 24 such surgeries took place with the 24th being the most promising attempt of them all.

For the 24th  attempt, Demikhov chose two different subjects, a German Shepard that Demikhov named  Brodyaga (tramp in Russian) and a smaller dog which he named Shavka. The procedure would have Brodyaga as the host and Shavka would be the dog supplying the neck and head which would be attached to the host.

The idea was to amputate the lower body of Shavka in order to keep her own heart and lungs connected until the last minute before the procedure took place. Whilst all of this was happening, an incision to Brodyaga’s neck would be made where the upper body of Shavka would be attached (this includes the head, neck, and upper limbs). The rest of the surgery was vascular reconstruction.

After a day of recovery, both dog’s or better said, the two-headed dog was in great shape, taking into consideration the previous 23 attempts. The operation only took three and a half hours and after a day’s recovery, the two-headed dogs or to be more specific, both heads reclaimed their sense (hearing, smelling, seeing, feeling, and tasting).

Sadly, this two-headed dog lived only for 4 days due to a vein accidentally being damaged in the neck. If this accident would have not taken place, Demikhov said that the dog could have lived even up to 40 days.

Surely, at the time this sort of surgery had no real-life applications, but such experiments lead to opening the eyes to the possibilities of the medical field and that the impossible is only a boundary set by us as a society. Interestingly enough, a similar procedure was attempted in 1908 by a surgeon called Dr. Alexis Carrel and his partner, Dr. Charles Guthrie. Their two-headed dog showed promising results, however, they died within hours of the procedure.

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Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov’s Two-Headed Dog

In 1955, at a meeting of the Moscow Surgical Society, a sensational exhibit was presented to the assembled guests. On the platform close to the audience, a large white dog was brought in. The dog looked happy, cheerfully wagging its tail, and unintimated by the large crowd of eager guests in front of him. He seemed particularly unconcerned by the unnatural appendage protruding from the side of his neck.

Just a few days before the meet, the dog had undergone a major surgery during which the Soviet scientist Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov had attached to the side of his neck a second head, acquired from a small brown-haired puppy. Both the hound and the decapitated head of the puppy were alive and reacting to stimuli. And even as the surgeons watched, the puppy's head gave the ear of its host a nasty bite. The white head snarled.

Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov’s demonstration sent shockwaves through Russia’s medical community, but this was not the first time our Soviet Dr. Frankenstein had ruffled feathers in his quest for medical breakthroughs. In 1937, at the age of only 21 and still a student, the young Vladimir had shocked his professors by creating the first artificial heart, which he successfully implanted into a dog. The dog survived for five hours. After graduation, Demikhov continued his experimental research, eventually performing successful heart and lung transplants, and later, liver and kidney transplantation on dogs and cats. Some of his patients survived for a month. His experiments with bypassing the coronary arteries were more satisfying. Four of the dogs survived for as long as 2 years. One dog operated in 1953 survived for 7 years.

Encouraged by his successes, Demikhov began moving to bolder experiments. In 1954, he performed his most controversial experimental operation, where he grafted the head and forelegs of a small puppy to the neck of a large adult dog.

“When the multiple dog regained consciousness after the operation, the puppy's head woke up and yawned. The big head gave it a puzzled look and tried at first to shake it off,” reports Time.

The puppy's head kept its own personality. Though handicapped by having almost no body of its own, it was as playful as any other puppy. It growled and snarled with mock fierceness or licked the hand that caressed it. The host-dog was bored by all this, but soon became reconciled to the unaccountable puppy that had sprouted out of its neck. When it got thirsty, the puppy got thirsty and lapped milk eagerly. When the laboratory grew hot, both host-dog and puppy put out their tongues and panted to cool off. After six days of life together, both heads and the common body died.

Demikhov created many such medical monstrosities. With time and experience, the survival rate of the animals improved, until one hybrid dog survived for 29 days.

When news of his pioneering surgeries spread throughout the western world, it raised many eyebrows and even more ethical questions regarding the acceptance of such procedures and their true medical need. But Demikhov could clearly see the future.

“The final goal of our experiments was to make transplantation of the heart and other organs in humans possible,” Demikhov wrote in a monograph.

Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov

In 1960, Demikhov published his book ‘ Experimental Transplantation of Vital Organs’ where he described in details the different approaches and surgical techniques. Soon afterwards the book was translated and published in several western countries, and for a long time was the only monograph in the field of transplantation of organs and tissues.

In his Landmarks in Cardiac Surgery , author Stephen Westaby recalled that in 1962, when an article on Demikhov’s head transplantations was published in the Cape Argos newspaper, Doctor Christiaan Barnard, a young South African cardiac surgeon at the Groote Schuur Hospital, remarked that “anything those Russians can do, we can do, too.” That same afternoon, he reproduced the experiment by transplanting the head of a dog onto another dog. The dog survived for several days.

Christiaan Barnard would later perform the world’s first successful transplantation of a human heart from a person who had just died from a head injury.

In 1997, a year before Vladimir Demikhov’s death, Dr. Barnard wrote in a letter to one his colleagues, crediting his own success to Demikhov's earlier experiments.

“He was certainly a remarkable man, having done all the research before extracorporeal circulation. I have always maintained that if there is a father of heart and lung transplantation then Demikhov certainly deserves this title,” Barnard wrote.

Despite his contribution to medical science, very few recognized Demikhov, especially by his own country. The true value of his experiments were acknowledged by the Russian state only at the end of his life, when he was awarded the “Order for Services for the Fatherland” in 1998, the year of his death.

Demikhov performing experimental surgery in Leipzig.

The last dog head transplant performed by Vladimir Demikhov on January 13, 1959 in East Germany.

References: # Simon Matskeplishvili, https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/38/46/3406/4706202 # Igor E. Konstantinov, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2763473/ # Russia Beyond, https://www.rbth.com/science-and-tech/326540-dog-heads-demikhov-soviet-medicine # Time, http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,891156,00.html

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Vladimir Demikhov, The Man Who Made A Two-Head Dog

By Joshua N

Updated on November 12, 2023

Vladimir Demikhov started as a trained mechanic and repairman. Eventually, he enrolled at Moscow State University's biology department and went on to earn notoriety as the mad scientist who made the famous two-headed dog.

Demikhov was born in 1916 to peasant parents, and unfortunately, his father died during the Russian Civil War when he was just three. Therefore, he was raised and educated by his mother along with this brother and sister.

As a teenager, he was inspired by Pavlov's experiments with dogs, which gave him an interest in the mammalian circulatory system.

From 1941 to 1945, he took part in the Second World War, where he served as a forensic expert and pathologist. When he returned home from the war, he had won several medals. The global conflict disrupted his research, but not for long.

However, when Demikhov got back to his experiments, his work stirred a lot of controversies. To begin with, just two years into his training at the university, he surprised everyone after creating an artificial heart and sticking it into a dog. The poor animal survived for two hours on its artificial heart.

This was a promising attempt at transplantology, and it was published in the university's student newspaper. He is the man who actually coined the term transplantology, and he is rightly the pioneer of this medical development.

Nevertheless, he was not about to let criticism interrupt his quest for answers, especially not his attempts to create a two-headed dog.

The Two Headed Dog Was Real

Some people might find it hard to believe that a two-headed dog made by a scientist ever existed. If you needed proof, these shocking photos of Vladimir Demikhov's handiwork prove that this mad scientist actually achieved his goal.

Although Demikhov was crazy by many standards, his work on this project made major contributions to the world of medicine.

The reason he chose dogs was that these were his favorite test subjects. The surprising thing is that he managed to achieve this scientific feat in the 50s.

At the time, scientists around the world strongly believed that transplants were not possible because they thought the recipient's immune system would reject the new organ. Additionally, even back then, these kinds of experiments were highly controversial.

Otherwise, Demikhov's goal was to transplant major organs, and the climax of his research was an attempt to graft another dog's head onto another fully intact dog. He tried the procedure 23 times, and the 24th time was a success that got him a lot of public attention. The photos of his two-headed dog were published in LIFE Magazine .

The Two-Headed Dog Could Swallow, See, Hear, And Smell

During the surgery, Demikhov grafted the head of a smaller dog onto the head of a stray German Shepherd. He used the smaller dog's head and neck.

The lower body of the smaller dog was amputated below the front legs, and the lungs and heart were kept operational until it was time for the transplant. At this point, an incision was also made on the host dog to allow the attachment of the smaller dog's head and neck.

The vertebrae of the dogs were attached using plastic rings. Demikhov also conducted vascular reconstruction.

The entire operation took three and a half hours. Upon resuscitation, both heads could swallow, see, hear, and smell.

However, whatever the small dog ate could not get into the stomach of the big dog, as it was not connected to the host dog's stomach. Instead, what the smaller dog swallowed flowed through a pipe to the floor.

The Dog Survived For Four Days

Unfortunately, the two-headed dog survived for four days, and he only succumbed after a vein in the neck was accidentally damaged. However, before its death, it had gained popularity after Associated Press reported the incident. The media establishment explained that Demikhov's two-headed dog was in great health.

Later, shocking photos of the strange creature were shared with the world.

His relative success stirred the medical community. American doctors traveled to the Soviet Union to learn more about these transplant techniques. Among the things they learned was the use of staples to compress veins and arteries during surgical procedures. This trick helped lower surgery time dramatically.

More importantly, by the early 60s, thanks to Demikhov's work, American doctors considered human transplants a possibility.

On his part, Demikhov went on to create another two-headed dog that lived for 29 days. At this time, he had already been doing transplants on dogs for five years, and none of his past subjects had survived for more than six days.

His experiments on dogs were very controversial because head transplants had no real-life applications, although they resulted in many dogs losing their lives.

The Experiment Had Started Much Earlier, But Demikhov Perfected It

Demikhov was not the first scientist to try this experiment. Back in 1908, a French surgeon, Dr. Alexis Carrel, and American physiologist Dr. Charles Guthrie had tried the very same experiment but had to euthanize the two-headed creature a few hours later after its condition worsened.

In the 1920s, Sergei Brukhonenko, a Soviet physician, managed to keep the severed head of a dog alive using a heart-lung machine he named an "auto-injector." The head could respond to stimuli and even feed on bits of cheese.

In the same decade, Dr. Il'ya Ivanov wanted to try a human-ape hybrid. Still, he could only do such an experiment in a lot of secrecy, considering the level of outrage it would generate. He settled for inseminating chimpanzees with human sperm. Eventually, he was sent to prison after he tried to inseminate women with orangutan sperm.

Demikhov Was Credited With The First Successful Human Heart Transplant

Initially, there was a lot of resistance to Demikhov's ideas. Yet, his work managed to convince Christiaan Barnard, a South African cardiac surgeon, that human heart transplants were a possibility.

Christiaan went on to perform the world's first successful heart transplant in 1967, and he attributed his success to Demikhov, whom he called "the father of heart and lung transplantation."

The surgeon visited Demikhov twice to learn more about transplants.

Without a doubt, Demikhov was an inventive pioneer.

However, when he proposed in 1965 that there be a bank where human organs could be stored to be used by surgeons when necessary, his life as a bold researcher changed.

At the time, this proposal sounded outrageous. Soviet scholars were so angered by the idea that they suggested the closure of his lab. That took its toll, and his transplantation experiments went down as he was criticized around the world.

From there, he worked at the Sklifosovsky Institute of Emergency Medicine until he retired in 1986. Nonetheless, he successfully encouraged the use of organ transplants in humans using living organs instead of artificial organs.

The Experiment Started A Race

Demikhov's successful experiments on dogs started a kind of arms race in the medical world. For instance, his success inspired Dr. Robert White to conduct head transplants on monkeys.

The 1970 surgery was a surprising success.

Unfortunately, the monkey was not as happy with its new body as Dr. White and his team was. Filled with indignation, the monkey snapped at him with its teeth angrily before it succumbed to complications a day and a half later.

People were appalled when they learned of the experiment.

Demikhov Died A Pioneer In His Field

Demikhov died aged 82 in a small apartment outside Moscow in 1998. At the time, his experiments were finally acknowledged in the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Order for Services for the Fatherland in the year he died.

Without a doubt, a lot of lives have been saved through organ transplants due to his efforts.

For instance, he helped prove the viability of organ transplants when he did a heart transplant on a dog in 1953. The dog survived for 7 years.

Demikhov's dream was that, eventually, his research would result in organ transplants being conducted on humans. That dream is now a reality.

Unfortunately, he did not enjoy this recognition when he was alive. The world decided to put the greatest focus on the fact that he had created a dog with two heads rather than the fact that he had also performed pioneering thoracic transplants, which have made organ failures a lot less deadly today.

Head Transplants Might Be A Reality In The Future

Although Demikhov's head transplant experiment seems crazy to even today, it may be a reality in the future, according to Sergio Canavero, an Italian neurosurgeon.

Currently, there are attempts to conduct human head transplants. However, Valery Spiridonov, who was scheduled to undergo a head transplant in 2017 due to a muscle-wasting condition, backed out of the procedure after he found love and became a dad.

Nonetheless, experts think that head transplants will have taken place by around 2030.

However, this medical procedure is not without its critics. Many see it as nothing more than a sci-fi fiction gimmick.

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How a Soviet Scientist Created a Two-Headed Dog

Arguably the most controversial surgery of the 20th century.

Peter Preskar

Short History

In 1996, world-famous cardiac surgeon Michael DeBakey (1908-2008) supervised quintuple-bypass surgery performed by Russian surgeons on Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Upon his arrival in Moscow, his first question was:

“May I pay the last honors to Professor Demikhov?”

The Russians didn’t know what to say. They have never heard of Demikhov, a Soviet genius, the father of heart and lung transplantation. Demikhov was an inspiration for surgeons around the world but was forgotten in Russia.

Demikhov died two years later, in 1998, in his modest Moscow apartment.

The breakthrough creation of a two-headed dog

In 1954, Demikhov successfully grafted the head of a smaller puppy onto a grown-up dog. He sewed dogs’ circulatory systems together and connected their vertebrae with plastic strings.

The puppy’s head growled and snarled. It licked the hand which…

Written by Peter Preskar

History junkie.

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Two-Headed Dog

By robb fritz.

A few years ago, a friend forwarded me a link to a YouTube video of an experiment from 1954 in which a doctor had cut a small dog in half and surgically attached it to another larger dog. Like many YouTube forwards, it was sent mostly for the “holy crap!” gross-out factor and not much more. Still, it made me curious enough to start poking around the Internet to learn more about who would possibly do such a thing. What I discovered was that this particular Dr. Frankenstein was a Soviet doctor named Vladimir Demikhov, and that he was not, in fact, a demented sociopath getting his rocks off staging a power-of-God freak show, but was instead a highly regarded cardiologist, considered a visionary by many, who was conducting this experiment in the name of serious research. Regardless of the official take, however, I still found the video unmistakably creepy, and the ethical alarms it set off in my head were deafening.

I’d resisted writing about this for any number of reasons (vague discomfort, queasiness, other subjects feeling more topical, not particularly wanting to field the death threats or just plain unkind emails that I imagine will come my way should I voice my opinion on either side—or more likely neither side—of the ethical issues involved in a public forum, back to more queasiness). I was well aware how my wife, who used to offer pro bono graphic design services to the Fund For Animals, felt about animal research, and she’d already vowed not to read this article no matter what I wrote ("those poor animals "). But when relatives, a married couple who are both doctors, encouraged me to write an article about medical dogs and forwarded me helpful research, I figured the time had come.

Still, I was conflicted. When I would finally start thinking of writing about Demikhov’s dogs, my internal dialogue would go something like this:

Serious Adult Me: So, why exactly are we writing about this?

Arrested Development Me: I guess if I’m honest with myself, the shock factor.

Serious Adult Me: Hey, that’s just wonderful. I myself was thinking that animal experimentation in the medical sciences might actually deserve a serious exploration.

Arrested Development Me (under breath): Jesus… (grumble) … yes, yes, of course. Yes… Dad.

Serious Adult Me: What was that?

Arrested Development Me: Nothing, nothing.

When I rewatched Demikhov’s video, it turned out to be every bit as odd and unsettling as I remembered it, with the added realization that on a closer viewing it was not just two dogs being exhibited, but a whole series of different two-headed dogs. Clocking in at about two and a half minutes, the video’s graininess makes it feel very much like the sort of ‘50s foreign sci-fi it kind of actually is. Its unintentional B-movie atmospherics are only increased by a dissonant soundtrack played over images of doctors in scrubs prodding with surgical instruments at internal organs framed by white cotton, a pair of lungs suddenly springing out of a dog’s thoracic cavity, inflating and deflating like a surreal detail straight out of Eraserhead . Meanwhile, a Russian voiceover murmurs along in what sounds like the urgent narration from an early French New Wave film, the modulated yet insistent sound of relentless, implacable fate.

We’re briefly shown two dogs, still unattached and playing with each other, the larger dog pawing playfully at the puppy. Then we see a series of post-op dogs, with the larger dogs hunching under the weight of the puppies, whose remaining heads and bodies, cut off behind the front legs, protrude from either the side or the back of the larger dogs’ necks. The dogs—both heads—are shown lapping from plates of milk held up to them by lab-coated assistants. Not visible in the video but described in a separate article I’d read about the experiments was the fact that the milk the attached puppies drank would then dribble out the protruding stump of their now useless esophagi, invariably causing a loss of appetite in the journalists sent there to observe.

Demikhov performed a total of 20 such experiments, most of the dogs living for less than a week, the longest pair surviving for only 28 days. As most of the deaths occurred because of tissue rejection between the two dogs, researchers have since questioned whether, with the rise of modern immunosuppressants, these dogs could have survived even longer together. But how would they have handled such unusually close quarters? I imagine them nipping at each other and driving each other nuts, the canine version of the two-headed criminal from the 1972 B-film The Thing with Two Heads —the Caucasian transplanted head, played by Ray Milland, saying things like “Help me!” or “Stop this infernal machine,” while the annoyed African-American host head, played by Rosie Grier, invariably responds, “Ah, just shut up.”

By the time of his last experiment in the ‘60s, Demikhov’s methods had fallen into disfavor with the Soviet authorities, and by the ’70s his career was largely over. He died in relative obscurity in 1998, though he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd Class, shortly before his death.

In my pursuit of all things Demikhov, Google led me to a website devoted to lists, oddee.com. While I’m not normally conducting my research on NSFW sites whose most popular content includes articles entitled “7 Amazing Facts about the Penis” and “18 Hilarious Camel Toe Fails,” I nevertheless found it fascinating that the site had Demikhov listed as number one on the their list of “Top 10 Mad Scientists in History,” ahead of the legendarily depraved Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death,” who clocked in at number three.

Incidentally, also on the list at number six is Demikhov’s predecessor and fellow YouTube cult star Dr. Sergei Bruyukhonenkow (say it—or better yet spell it—five times fast), whose personal contribution to mad dog experiments was the complete decapitation of a dog, after which he kept the dog’s head alive using a primitive heart-and-lung machine called the autojektor. He also entirely drained the blood from another dog, then left it for ten minutes, after which the blood was reintroduced into the dog’s system using the autojektor. The dog completely revived and reportedly went on to live a full and happy (if, I assume, slightly brain-damaged) life. Both procedures are recorded in agonizing detail in a web-accessible film entitled Experiments in the Revival of Organisms.

As a literary aside, I can’t help but wonder if either of these doctors had read or been inspired by author (and former doctor) Mikhail Bulgakov’s 1925 novel Heart of a Dog , about a snobbish anti-proletariat doctor who turns a stray dog into a man by replacing his canine testes and pituitary with those of a man—unfortunately a drunken, bullying mess of a man whose traits are inherited by the dog-man hybrid, who eventually works his way into the Soviet politburo. But in any case, starting with Pavlov at the turn of the previous century, Russia and its medical community certainly were fixated on their dogs.

In a 1998 article from The Annals of Thoracic Surgery celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Demikhov’s execution of the first-ever successful thoracic heart and lung transplant, performed on a dog in 1946, Dr. Igor Konstantinov provides a thorough overview of Demikhov’s many accomplishments, starting with Demikhov’s creation in 1937—while still only a 21-year-old medical student—of the first mechanical cardiac assist device. Konstantinov insists on Demikhov’s central place in the history of transplantology, quoting Christiaan Barnard, the South African cardiologist who had visited Demikhov’s lab twice in the ’60s before becoming the first surgeon ever to successfully perform a human-to-human heart transplant. Barnard was very clear in his feelings about Demikhov, a man he considered a teacher. “He was certainly a remarkable man. I have always maintained that if there was a father of heart and lung transplantation then Demikhov certainly deserves this title.”

Konstantinov writes that Demikhov had made a personal motto out of a quote from Ivan Pavlov, yet another scientist whose name will forever be paired with dogs: “The endless variations of experiments as far as human ingenuity permits—that is the cardinal rule of physiological research.” Given this as his motto, Demikhov’s more radical methods at least make somewhat more sense. That said, Konstantinov dedicates only one slightly dismissive sentence in the entire article to Demikhov’s infamous two-headed dogs: “It is interesting and even surprising that most surgeons are aware of Demikhov’s famous dog with two heads, but only a few can recall his contribution to coronary surgery.” To which I just want to respond, “For Christ’s sake, the man cut a dog in half–actually 20 of them–and surgically attached them to 20 other dogs!” That this sticks in people’s minds is really, really not surprising.

I realize Konstantinov’s point is that a trained surgeon should view Demikhov’s work from a clinical, and not an emotional, viewpoint, a viewpoint not necessarily shared by the average dog-loving individual, and also that a surgeon should be deeply versed in surgical history, but still. Doctors and researchers don’t do themselves any favors willfully blinding themselves to what is for the average individual ethical razor wire with a lethal high-voltage chaser. I for one whipsawed all over the ethical spectrum while writing this piece. While I understand the value of medical research on animals, and while I’m certainly thankful others have the stomach for the kind of research and lab work that I myself would not, I still can’t help wondering what, if any, real value came from Demikhov’s and Bruyukhonenkow’s more extreme experiments with dogs and whether these goals could not have been alternatively reached.

But while I am hopelessly muddled ethically, temperamentally willing to entertain opposing views, provided they’re not expressed by an asshole, I feel pretty crystal clear as a realist. The use of animals in medical research, however I might personally feel about it, is going to exist–and if it doesn’t exist here, it will exist in some much more lawless elsewhere (and, unfortunately, already does). The best we can hope for is strict regulation and guidelines for its use, and kind and conscientious practitioners of the science.

But who are these practitioners? I’ve always been mystified and a little awestruck by those who make it their career messing around with the soft interior tubes and valves of the engine of life. I am decidedly not that kind of person, having wormed my way out of eighth grade biology, in the process avoiding ever having to even dissect a frog.

Fortunately for my curiosity, at least one book exists that is not only about such a person, but is written by that person as well. Partners of the Heart is the memoir of Vivien Thomas, one of the 20th century’s most famous medical technicians. Granted, “most famous” when talking about medical technicians is relative, but in his case there was a 2004 HBO movie made about him starring Mos Def, with Alan Rickman as his main partner in medicine, Dr. Alfred Blalock.

Despite my having to gloss over sizable chunks of the book in which surgical procedures are described in clinically precise detail (I may never know, for example, what “we decided to combine the ventricular septal defect and the pulmonic stenosis” actually means), it is a fascinating and occasionally inspiring read. While I did manage to learn my fistula from my cannula, and my myocardium from my pericardium, it was definitely the stories around the experiments and surgery that did more to stir my predominantly non-scientific blood.

Born in Nashville in 1910, Thomas had dreamed of going to medical school but had been sidelined for financial reasons and never made it past his freshman year of college. Desperate for work during the depression, he found a job as a lab technician for Dr. Alfred Blalock, a brilliant young surgeon at Vanderbilt University. Despite his actual position, as an African American at the time he was per university policy officially classified and paid as a janitor. When he learned this, he confronted Blalock with the information and was promptly given a raise–the first of many times Thomas would diplomatically yet successfully press Blalock for higher pay.

When Blalock left Vanderbilt to become head of surgery at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, he convinced Thomas to come along in order to run John Hopkins’ Hunterian research lab, or, as it was referred to among the staff, “the dog house.” It was at John Hopkins that Dr. Helen Taussig, the founder of pediatric cardiology, would convince Blalock to help her find a cure for a condition known as tetralogy of Falot, commonly known as Blue Baby syndrome, a condition in which a child’s blood—largely bypassing the lungs—is insufficiently oxygenated.

The search for a surgical cure largely fell to Thomas, who was assigned the task of recreating the condition in the laboratory dogs and then of figuring out how to fix it. He succeeded, then taught Blalock the technique to use on humans. After Blalock’s second successful surgery, the “Blalock-Taussig shunt” (developed, of course, largely by the unnamed Thomas) became famous, and the pediatric hospital at John Hopkins was quickly overrun by parents anxious to have the surgery for their children, many having shown up from across the country without having even made an appointment.

Thomas describes a hospital staff worn out by the sudden influx of “Blue Baby” patients but ultimately rewarded for their efforts.

“A two-and-a-half-year-old girl had never made an attempt to walk or even to stand without coaxing. Her mother broke into tears on entering her room (after the operation) to find her standing at the rail of her crib. Scenes like this and seeing the marvelous, almost miraculous improvement in the condition of these little patients… had given all of us the strength and stamina to carry on.”

While pleased and proud to be the eventual recipient of an honorary doctorate from John Hopkins, formal recognition for Thomas never seems to have been a concern, and his focus was always the daily work and the good that it could achieve.

Legendary as an animal surgeon and the sort of no-nonsense pragmatist who would invent and refine surgical tools as needed, Thomas is markedly clear and non-neurotic about his work. As far as one can tell from his memoir, he sees in his medical research and his work on dogs only a positive good. He never once in the book introduces an ethical quandary over his use of dogs for research and training, explaining straightforwardly that dogs are used in these experiments because “anatomically, the heart and the arrangement of the great vessels are much like those of the human. The sizes of the vessels are comparable to those of an infant or a small child.”

Ironically or not, because of his legendary skill with animal surgery, Thomas was occasionally tasked with performing emergency surgery on animals brought into the hospital and became resident surgeon to all of the pets on the Hopkins faculty and staff–to such an extent in fact that he came under scrutiny by the local veterinary association. He was helped out of this mess by a veterinarian friend, a veterinarian who had refined his surgical skills studying with the master, Thomas himself.

While I pored over bioethics sites trying to wrap my head around my personal feelings about the use of animal research in medicine, and considered the conflicted thoughts that crossed my mind as I passed loving pets being walked down the sidewalk, the question of ethics, in a simplistic nutshell, always seem to come down to a variation of “what wouldn’t you do to help a child in distress?” Stories like the success of the Blue Baby operation, or the story from Rome last week describing the successful implantation of the smallest artificial heart ever—looking like a tiny microphone the size of my pinky’s first knuckle—in a 16-month-year old who had been living in the hospital’s intensive care from the age of one month, are inspiring despite the fact that they both rely on the sacrifice of animals to achieve their success.

As with all ethical questions, we’re demanding the hard ground of definite answers where there is only the quicksand of conditionals and context, and we always end up with annoyingly murky pabulum like this very sentence. What separates the inarguable good resulting from Thomas’s work from the far more nebulous positives of Demikhov’s and Bruyukhonenkow’s notorious canine experiments is quite likely much more marginal from a medical standpoint than it is from a superficially ethical one. But the point is that who—besides a trained medical professional—would be able to tell? Which leaves us with little more than our gut reaction, varying from heated outrage to the reaction of the guy I was just talking to about this article: “Forget the ethics, will you forward me that YouTube link?”

• Animal Research
• Vladimir Demikhov

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You've Probably Heard About The Scientist Who Created A Two-Headed Dog

If you have heard the name Vladimir Demikhov, it's probably for the  science fiction-sounding experiments he conducted, in which he transplanted the head of one  dog to another, in effect, creating a two-headed dog. According to Russia Beyond , by the time the Associated Press released the news of the Soviet doctor's experiments to the world in 1959, he had already been experimenting with these transplants for five years ... with mixed results. 

The most famous of these, at least in the West, is Demikhov's twenty-fourth attempt, which Life covered, appropriately enough, as "Russia's Two-Headed Dog." The article followed an operation in which Demikhov's team attached the head and forelegs of one dog to the neck of another. When the operation was completed "[both] heads could see, hear, smell, and swallow."

Unfortunately, the two dogs — Brodyaga and Shavka — only survived for four days, due to a vein in the neck receiving accidental damage. Most of Demikhov's dogs, in fact, barely made it to six days. The longest surviving canines managed to live for twenty-nine days after the operation, thus proving the concept that such transplants were possible. When explaining the failures of the transplants, Demikhov pointed out that it was always the transplant that gave out first: "[Even in our best case] it was the small head, not the host dog, that sickened first. Had we acted in time, we could have saved the host dog."

The real reason why you should've heard of him

The image of Demikhov adding transplanted dog heads does give the impression of an eccentric pursuing a pointless path. However, Vladimir Demikhov was actually blazing a genuine path of scientific inquiry, not science fiction , which he called "transplantology," or the study of organ transplants.

In an article for The Annals of Thoracic Surgery , Dr. Harris Schumacker lauds Demikhov as being the first person to "transplant an auxillary heart into the thorax of a warm-blooded animal, first to replace the heart with a homograft organ, first to carry out a pulmonary transplantation, and first to perform a complete heart and lung replacement." Even in the case of the two-headed dogs, there was an actual point to them, as Demikhov explained in the Life article: His tests revealed that the failure lies with the transplanted part, so a woman who was bothering him for a leg transplant, for instance, could now receive one with minimal risk: "The main problem will be joining the nerves so the woman can control her movements... But I am sure we can lick that problem too." 

While attaching human heads to new bodies still seems out of reach, according to Popular Science , the fact that we can take a beating heart and put it inside another person's body would have struck an early twentieth century scientist as fanciful. Now, it's perfectly possible.

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The Two-Headed Dog Experiment: Soviet Scientist who Grafted the Head of the dog onto another Dog

Vladimir Demikhov, a Soviet scientist and organ transplant pioneer, attached a small dog’s upper body to a large dog’s neck in 1959. While he had performed this procedure before (the first time was in 1954), this was the first time the entire procedure had been documented by LIFE magazine. Small dog Shavka was nine years old and large dog Brodyaga, a stray who was picked up in the streets by a dog catcher, was twelve years old.

The dogs were anesthetized prior to the surgery, and the areas to be bisected were shaved, the neck of Brodyaga and the midsection of Shavka. Demikhov and his team cut into Brodyaga’s neck, exposing his jugular vein, aorta, and cervical vertebrae. Then they cut into Shavka’s midsection, layer by layer, attaching small blood vessels to Brodyaga’s. Shavka’s spine was severed behind her shoulders, her lower body removed, and the main blood vessels and trachea were connected to his lungs. Shavka’s heart and lungs were removed as the final step. Her esophagus wasn’t attached to Brodyaga’s stomach, it was outside their bodies.

Both dogs recovered from the surgery and were able to move independently. Brodyaga could lap a few mouthfuls of water from a bowl, but the water ran down Shavka’s esophagus and down Shavka’s neck. Shavka received nutrients and oxygen from Brodyaga’s heart, which was pumping blood into her system. Shavka would bite the large dog’s ear as Brodyaga walked them around the yard. Brodyaga and Shavka died four days after the surgery. Their neck veins were strangled, resulting in their deaths.

The Russian surgeon performed 20 such experiments on dogs. One pair of dogs lived for 29 days, but most lived closer to a week. The majority of the dogs died from tissue rejection (when the recipient’s immune system recognizes transplanted tissue as foreign and destroys it). Today, immunosuppressive drugs are used to reduce the risk of tissue rejection. The experiments Demikhov conducted (mostly on dogs) included heart, lung, and heart-lung transplants. His work paved the way for human organ transplants, and some believe that human head transplantation will occur soon – for example, transplanting the head of a quadriplegic onto a functional donor body. Animal testing continues even today despite alternative methods. Animal rights groups are working hard to stop animal testing so that one day, as soon as possible, there won’t be any more animals suffering for humanity’s benefit.

Written by Benjamin Grayson

Former Bouquet seller now making a go with blogging and graphic designing. I love creating & composing history articles and lists.

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Vintage Everyday

Bring back some good or bad memories, may 1, 2022, the two-headed dog experiment: shavka and brodyaga, two soviet dogs became famous in history by becoming one.

8 comments:

what a disgusting piece of shit. the human race really deserves to rot in hell or whatever is out there for us. we should reject medication and operations. god I hope this guy and his team died a painful death.

Ffs ytfff, use ur exeprtise to solve actual problems instead of mutating animals u fuck

Please, no more post like this

Leave it to communists to commit such abominations and call it a good thing. Vladimir Demikhov is rotting in hell right this minute.

вы ошибаетесь, его работы помогут человечеству...

C'est horrible !!!!! Paix aux âmes de ces êtres innocents ! J'ai honte d'être de la même espèce que ces personnes sans coeur , sans remords , sans empathie . Laissez ces animaux tranquilles : ils ont bien plus de choses à nous apprendre vivants que morts !

в чем же ужас? а если бы у вас отказывало сердце, то вам тоже не стоило бы пересадить сердце от донора? это наука, призванная помочь людям

i be like shietttt dawgg......

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