Nature

6-Legged Double-Penised Double-Headed Piglets!

This is the Chinese Year of the Pig ...

By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor

4th of August 2007, 07:36 GMT

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This is the Year of the Pig in the Chinese zodiac. Accidentally or not, some bizarre pigs were born in China this year and they are being given special attention. The birth of these pigs is likely to be seen as a particularly good omen. Or a bad one.

In January in Quanzhou a two-faced four-eyed

piglet was born, in March a two-faced three-eyed two-mouthed two-nosed one was born. The latter was bred by specialist pig farmer Liu Shuping, from Shaanxi province in the north west of China.
In April, a beautiful piglet with six legs was born in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province (China). The spare legs emerged from the vicinity of the pig's buttocks. This can be only a good omen: extra hams.

Previously, Zhejiang Museum of Natural History did have one six-legged piglet in their collections.

In June, a piglet with 6 legs, 2 penises and 2 anuses was born this time in Croatia, in the village of Vrpolje. The owner, Ivica Seic, dubbed this little nature's mishap Octopig.

"The pig was growing so fast that they had decided to keep him as a pet," said Seic.

The phenomenon of the occurrence of extra-limbs is called polymelia. It is rare among both humans and mammals and this happens due to genetic mutations. It is more common in frogs and toads, but researches link it to impairments during the metamorphosis due to contaminants found in the environment or to parasitic worms.

Last month, a four-legged baby girl was born is South Africa and a similar case of polymelia associated with hermaphrodism was encountered in a deer in Wisconsin, US and yesterday in a lamb born in New Zealand. There are some cases with "winged" cats, having vestigial legs, useless for any purpose at all, dangling from their shoulders.

TAGS:

pig | polymelia | mutation

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