In a remote farm, villagers were shocked to see the two-headed calf born alive. The creature looks like from an ancient myth.
The farmer, Gan Yuanhua thought he was getting twins when two heads emerged but was staggered when only one body followed them. The two- headed cow has been branded a mutant by a local vet.
The calf, which died shortly after birth, was born at Saijin in Linshui County, in south- west China’s Sichuan Province.The calf was born from a cow who has given birth to three healthy calves in the past.
According to farmer Gan Yuanhua, “I heard the cow shuffling around ang making odd noises in the shed, and I knew she was about to give birth. I initially thought the cow had given birth to twins when I saw the two heads and did not realize immediately that it was a mutation,”
The cow, who seemed to be unconcerned and unaffected that it was deformed, reportedly died after birth.
A local vet, Xu Kaiwen, and has been practicing for 30 years, said the calf’s condition was caused by a genetic mutation which has yet to be identified.
The unusual condition of being born with two heads is called polycephaly and occurs in both animals and humans . The most common cause is that two identical twins begin to form from the same egg, but do not separate correctly and end up sharing the same body.
In the majority of cases, animals and humans with polycephaly die soon after birth.
Source: Mirror
