Nine lives, two faces.

• Position: THE BIG PICTURE - Brief article

No, this picture hasn't been Photoshopped. A cat known as "Frank and Louie," which died of cancer in December, really had two faces. He lived to the age of 15, a record for such felines. They're called Janus cats, after the two-faced Roman god (right), and are very rare. Scientists don't know exactly what causes the defect, but one possibility is an excess of a protein that's key in forming animal faces. Janus cats usually die a few days after birth because their organs can be damaged or underdeveloped; often their mothers eat them. Frank and Louie had a healthy esophagus, which enabled him to digest food properly--one of the secrets to his longevity. (Two of his three eyes functioned; his middle eye was blind.) Martha Stevens of Worcester, Massachusetts, who adopted him in 1999, told the local paper The Telegram she has no regrets. "I would...