Holy cow! One-eyed calf is worshipped as a god in India

From Daily Mail.co.uk (Jan. 7, 2019):

A newborn calf with just one eye is being worshipped as a god in eastern India.

The little cow, whose appearance is due to a birth defect, was born in the Bardhaman district of West Bengal. 

In video footage shared online, the one-eyed calf, which also does not have a muzzle, can be seen sticking out its tongue and gasping for breath.

The owner said: 'Ever since it was born, people have crowded my place to see the bizarre calf.

'They are now considering it to be a miracle of God and have started worshipping it.'

The calf has cyclopia, a rare congenital disorder that occurs in both humans and animals.

It develops in the womb when the left and right hemispheres of the brain do not separate as they are meant to early on in pregnancy. [read more]

I don’t think the calf considers itself a miracle. I think it would say it got screwed in life.

Mutant snake with three working eyes found in Australia

From Fox News.com (May 2):

Wildlife officials in Australia have shared bizarre photos of a three-eyed snake they found on the highway.

The photos, shared to Facebook by the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service, were described as "peculiar" due to the formation of the skull.

"The snake is peculiar as an x-ray revealed it was not two separate heads forged together, rather it appeared to be one skull with an additional eye socket and three functioning eyes," the Parks and Wildlife Service wrote on Facebook.
…………..

It's likely that the strange development of the baby carpet python, which was approximately 15 inches in length, came about during the early embryonic stage, the Parks and Wildlife Service added.

"It is extremely unlikely that this is from environmental factors and is almost certainly a natural occurrence as malformed reptiles are relatively common."

Known as Monty Python, the snake died just weeks after it was found in March, park officials confirmed. "It's remarkable it was able to survive so long in the wild with its deformity and he was struggling to feed before he died last week," Ranger Ray Chatto told NT News.  [read more]

Weird.

Mountain Lion That Has Left Wildlife Biologists Completely Stumped

From the Blaze.com (Jan. 11):

A mountain lion that was recently killed in southeast Idaho was discovered to have an unusual deformity: a second set of teeth and whiskers growing from its head.

According to the Idaho State Journal, the yearling cougar was harvested near the town of Weston on Dec. 30 by an unidentified hunter. The deformed animal has biologists stumped.

“It has all of us scratching our heads,” regional wildlife biologist Zach Lockyer told the State Journal. “It’s a bizarre situation and a bizarre photo.”

In a press release Friday, Idaho’s department of fish and game said that they could not fully explain the deformity, but offered several possible explanations.

“It is possible that the teeth could be the remnants of a conjoined twin that died in the womb and was absorbed into the other fetus,” the press release said. “It is also possible that deformity was a teratoma tumor. These kinds of tumors are composed of tissue from which teeth, hair, and even fingers and toes can develop. They are rare in humans and animals.” [read more]

I don’t know but that deformity, whatever it is, looks like a chicken head grew on his head.

Mass. cat with 2 faces lives 12 years, sets record

From apnews.excite.com:

Worchester, Mass.   Frank and Louie the cat was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses, three eyes - and lots of doubts about his future.

Now, 12 years after Marty Stevens rescued him from being euthanized because of his condition, the exotic blue-eyed rag doll cat is not only thriving, but has also made it into the 2012 edition of Guinness World Records as the longest-surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with two faces. [read more]

That’s one freakin’ looking cat. Looks like some sort of Cubist painting that Pablo Picasso would have done. I didn’t even know there was record for that type of cat. I guess there’s almost a Guinness World record for just about everything.

In case you are wondering, Guinness World Records did not have any other “Janus” animals. Just that cat. I looked for Janus dogs on the web and did not find any photos of those.

Dog Gives Birth To a Kitten

From Ananova.com, a dog in China has given birth to a kitten. Well, not really. Actually, the kitten really is a puppy but because of mutations (the article says a gene mutation--but I think it is more than one gene mutating to produce that phenotype--just speculation on my part) it looks like a kitten. Looking at the puppy in the photograph above I can see why the family thought the puppy was a kitten at first glance. But if you look close at the photograph the "kitten" has no whiskers.

That cat-like puppy is really going to confuse some cats and probably other dogs--especially when it starts barking. If that puppy is a female (the article does not state what gender the puppy is) it might want to stay away from male cats that are in heat. It might even have trouble associating with other dogs.

Mutant Deer Now Road-Kill

A Wisconsin man has crashed into a seven-legged hermaphroditic deer with this truck. After taking a picture of the mutant deer and sending the photo to experts he ate the deer. He said the deer was tasty. I wonder what kind of wine or beer a person serves with mutant deer? Hmmm.

I wonder how long it will take for some environmental extremist to blame the deer's condition on global warming (which we all know now is caused by cattle (shame on them!) at least according to the U. N.)