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Farmers have been left baffled after one if its cows has given birth to a two-headed mutant calf.
The poor creature was born on a farm in the Brazilian municipality of Nova Venecia in the state of Espirito Santo on the evening of December 13, and is unable to stand up or feed naturally.
Delci Busatto, the son of the calf’s owner, told local media that the mutant calf lives on the family's farm and has trouble feeding from its mother and needs to feed from a bottle.
He said: “The calf is very debilitated. It has to lie down and cannot get up. Because it can’t stand up, the calf has to be fed from a bottle.”
He said the family have sought an expert opinion from a vet, but even they did not seem to know what could have caused the calf to be born with two heads.
Busatto continued: “We have talked to some vets, but no one has any answers as to whether it will survive or not.
“For now, it is just a matter of waiting and seeing what happens.”
The calf was the cow's third offspring, and the other two were born normally.
The family at the farm were aware that the cow, aged around six, was due to give birth.
When Busatto went to the barn on Monday night, he was shocked to find that the calf had two heads.
One reason for genetic abnormalities is a change in the genome, often caused by the animal’s external and internal environment.
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Mutations can be caused by certain mutagenic influences, artificial conditions, and sometimes crossbreeding.
In a similar case, a mutant newborn calf with two heads, six legs and two tails was born in Turkey last month.
The strange creature was stillborn in the rural neighbourhood of Bahcearasi in the district of Cine, during the early hours of November, 7.
Erdem Celik, 38, discovered the calf when he noticed that one of his cows was having difficulty giving birth.
Initially, it was thought that the cow was pregnant with twins and that a normal birth would not be possible.
They decided to perform a caesarian section, which took around two hours.
The calf was stillborn with two heads, four front legs and two back legs, two tails, and a double spine.
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