History Main / AHeadAtEachEnd

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'', Mighty Mac is a Fairlie, a double-ended articulated steam engine. Each end -- Mighty and Mac -- has a distinct face and identity.

* In ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture'', the terratail is a subversion: it has markings on its tail that make it resemble a venomous snake, allowing this small rodent to perform a BackupBluff, complete with a realistic hiss, when threatened by predatory birds.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Amphisbaenas are large venomous snakes with a head at each end. If the snake is cut in two, the separated heads can immediately reattach their bodies together or go separate ways and regrow their lost portions to become two new amphisbaenas.

* In what is likely the most adorable case of BodyHorror, there's ''Push Me Pull You'' by House House (yes, the same folks behind ''VideoGame/UntitledGooseGame''.) Two players take control of a two-headed humanoid worm-like creature, to compete against another pair in a ball game that's part soccer, part sumo wrestling.

* A whole series of inversions (two bodies joined at a shared cranium) appear in ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'', most notably Professor Monkey-for-a-Head.
* In a BodyHorror style, ''VideoGame/ThrillKill'' has Judas, conjoined twins connected at the waist in such a way that there are heads at each end, two pairs of arms, and ''no legs''. They usually crawl about, but in combat one walks handstand while the other fights.
* Twingersnap from ''VideoGame/VivaPinata'' is a snake with a head on each end. It can give rise to Fourheads, which has, well, four heads -- one in the front, one on the back and two on necks attached to each side.
* Diplocephalus in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', called Amphisbaena in the Japanese version and called as such in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', is a crocodile-like beast with the upper body of a fireball-slinging human woman attached to its tail.

* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/SeriousSamTheSecondEncounter'' upon seeing a statue of such a creature:

* The Duke's Dear Freja from ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' looks like one huge spider at first, but it's actually two huge spiders conjoined at the rear end. Naturally, each head serves as a weakpoint.

* Drawings of multi-headed monsters, including a dragon-like creature to which this trope applies, are part of a puzzle from ''[[VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles Ravenhearst Unlocked]]''.
* Inverted on the cover of ''VideoGame/NordAndBertCouldntMakeHeadOrTailOfIt'', which features a cow with a tail at both ends.

* The TrueFinalBoss of ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' is Black Doom's OneWingedAngel form Devil Doom, an enormous [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver red and black]] gargoyle-like monster with two heads, both with one yellow eye but one having two horizontal horns and the other having one unicorn-like horn.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'', Malroth, God of Destruction, has a snake-like head on the tip of his crocodilian tail.

* In Myth/ClassicalMythology, the amphisbaena (literally "both-way goer" in Ancient Greek) is an ant-eating snake or [[MixAndMatchCritter a hybrid of a snake and a bird]] with a deadly-venomous head at each end of its body.
* The [[Myth/JapaneseMythology nue]] is a MixAndMatchCritter with a snake for a tail.
* Some creatures in Myth/ClassicalMythology, most notably the Chimera, have living, biting snakes for tails. Cerberus and the Sphinx are sometimes also depicted in such a manner.

* Another mythological example is the [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian]] Akeru: the front halves of two lions, joined in the middle. Often depicted with a solar disc on each head, it was symbolic of sunrise and sunset.
* Some depictions of the Black Tortoise of TheFourGods depicts the snake that entwines the tortoise coming from where the tortoise's tail is.
* Humbaba, a guardian giant from Mesopotamian myth, had a lion's head on his shoulders and a snake for a tail. He also one-upped this trope by having an additional snake head ... on his penis.

* 'Anime/MazingerZ'': Several [[{{Robeast}} Mykene War Beasts]] have a head at each end (which happens fairly often, since all Mykene War Beasts have several heads). This trope is used for first time in the ''Mazinger'' universe in the ''Mazinger Z vs. Great General of Darkness'' feature.

* In the alternate Marvel universe of Earth X, most if not all of the normal humans on Earth have been mutated by terrigen mists in the atmosphere. At one point, it's revealed that Wong mutated so that his lower half became identical to his upper body, only it had an evil personality and took control over him.
* ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'': Emperor-class Evronians grow another head on the tip of their long tails. Oddly enough, said head does all the talking and seems cognizant, while the "normal" head only serves to shoot blasts of energy.

* ''VideoGame/KantaiCollection'' has Re-Class and Light Cruiser Demon, who provide two variants of the trope: Re-Class has a large tail-like extension coming from her rear that has a head on the end and Light Cruiser Demon's lower body cuts on top of a giant creature head.

''WesternAnimation/{{CatDog}}'' is a recent TropeCodifier, having inherited that role from the Pushmi-Pullyu. Another common iteration of this trope is a snake with a head at each end of its body, inspired by the Greek amphisbaena.

* Played with the {{Orochi}} in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', which has seven small heads on one end and a ''single, mountainous head on the opposite end.''
* Several [[{{Robeast}} Mykene War Beasts]] from ''Anime/MazingerZ'' and ''Anime/GreatMazinger'' had a head at each end (an occurrence happened more often than you would think since ALL Mykene War Beasts had several heads: one of them was the {{Humongous Mecha}}'s head and the other -or others- belonging to the human warrior fused with the mecha). This trope was used for first time in the Mazinger universe in the ''Mazinger Z vs. Great General of Darkness'' feature.

** [[FunWithPalindromes Girafarig]] is a giraffe with an extra spherical head as its tail, which [[OrganAutonomy bites without warning]]. This head is incapable of higher thinking and only responds to outside stimuli. [[https://twitter.com/DrLavaYT/status/1219968764252315648 In its original design]], its heads on both ends were identical in everything except color.

* The whole premise of the animated series ''WesternAnimation/CatDog''.

* In the ''Literature/DoctorDolittle'' novels, the Pushmi-Pullyu is an antelope with two front halves, attached at the waist.

* The Littralope from Creator/WayneBarlowe's ''Literature/{{Expedition}}'' is a similar subversion, sporting an entire simulated head on its rear end to confuse predators as to which way it's facing. Since the Littralopes, like all the other creatures on the planet, have no eyes or mouths, this ruse is pretty effective.
* The Process, the monster in the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresCatsCradleTimesCrucible Time's Crucible]]''.
* In a vegetative variant, ''Literature/TheIntegralTrees'' features trees that grow in microgravity and have a leafy crown at each end of their trunks.

* In the ''Literature/NomesTrilogy'', Grimma ''thought'' that Big John was this trope at first glance, as both the earthmover's bulldozer-blade and steam-shovel scoop had "teeth" on them.

* Some of the freakish and terrifying animals of ''Literature/{{Fragment}}'' have at least parts of a head at their rear end, including one that eats through its hind mouth and a few with rear brains and eyes.
* One of the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' novels has a brief gag where a Naga (giant snake with a woman's head) get affected by a field that amplifies magic, and suddenly winds up with a head on each end. She's rather freaked out by it. It only lasts a moment, though.

* According to Oscar's discourse on symmetry, the swimming pool on ''Series/OddSquad'' was designed by an agent who was symmetrical top-to-bottom. The actual agent isn't shown, but a drawing of him (complete with dashed line to show his plane of symmetry) does appear.

** [[FunWithPalindromes Girafarig]] is a giraffe with an extra spherical head as its tail, which [[OrganAutonomy bites without warning]]. This head is incapable of higher thinking and only responds to outside stimuli. In its original design, its heads on both ends were identical in everything except color.

* In mythology, the amphisbaena (literally "both-way goer") is a snake or snake/bird MixAndMatchCritter with a deadly-venomous head at each end of its body.

* Diplocephalus in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' is a crocodile-like beast with the upper body of a fireball-slinging human woman attached to its tail.

* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/SeriousSam: The Second Encounter'' upon seeing a statue of such a creature:

** In Mongoose Publishing's [=OGL=] supplement ''Classic Play - The Book of the Planes'', the bilateral exilarch is an Outsider-type creature from the Astral Plane. It consists of two upper humanoid bodies attached at their waists - one a fighter and the other a cleric - plus six wings.

* The Khornate [[BodyHorror Chaos Spawn]] Scyla Anfingrimm from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' has a snapping serpentine head on the end of its tail, in addition to the ape-like head that sits upon his heavily muscled shoulders.

* During the "Pink Elephants on Parade" number in ''Disney/{{Dumbo}}'', two of the elephants cross through each other and briefly become this.

* In ''Discworld/TheWorldOfPoo'', one of the weird animals in the Ankh-Morpork menagerie is a variety of goat so shaggy, its head and tail ends are completely indistinguishable unless it sticks out its tongue.

* On of the ''[[Literature/{{Xanth}} Xanth]]'' novels has a brief gag where a Naga (giant snake with a woman's head) get affected by a field that amplifies magic, and suddenly winds up with a head on each end. She's rather freaked out by it. It only lasts a moment, though.

* Some creatures in Myth/ClassicalMythology, most notably the Chimera, have living, biting snakes for tails.