10 Uncanny Animal Mutations

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• published: 28 Sep 2016
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From the two faced cat known as Frankenlouie to the mysterious white tiger, these are 10 UNCANNY Animal Mutations ! 6. White Tigers -- The monochrome fur and blue eyes have made white tigers a greatly sought after attraction all over the world. But did you know that their striking looks come at quite a cost? White tigers are born with leucism, a lack of pigment that creates their unique looks … and only one in 10,000 wild tigers are born with the condition, which has led to generations of white tigers being inbred at zoos and attractions. And inbreeding can lead to dreadful deformities. Many of the animals born in captivity suffer from immune deficiencies, and have cleft palates, bulging eyes or neurological issues. The breeding of white tigers was banned by the American Zoological Association in 2011 … but non-member zoos and attractions still continue the practice. 5. The Hexapus -- Did you know a hexapus is actually an octopus … except it has six legs instead of eight? It’s also incredibly rare, with only two specimens ever recorded worldwide! One hexapus gained some fame when it was discovered off North Wales in 2008 and taken to the Blackpool Sea Life Center. The six-limbed creature was named Henry the Hexapus … Henry being a reference to Henry the VIII, who had six wives. It’s likely his condition was caused by a mutation, not having experienced a loss of limbs. He was later released to the wild where it’s thought he has likely died of natural causes. A second hexapus was found in 2013 … but this one didn’t fare so well. It was found by an American family while vacationing in Greece. But the father followed a local tradition and killed the rare creature … then had it cooked and served with lemon as his meal. After learning of his blunder, the father said the unique creature tasted like a normal octopus but that he felt really bad about the incident. Do you believe him? 4. Cyclops Kitten -- You might remember this story from a few years ago. This Bengal kitten named Cleyed (klay-ed) was born with only one eye and no nose … videos of the creature posted to YouTube generated hundreds of thousands of views. The kitten suffered from cyclopia (sy-kloe-pee-ah), the congenital disorder that prevents an embryo from dividing the eye sockets into two cavities … Incidences of cyclopia are thought to be 1 in every 16,000. The animal is usually born without a nose, and often dies from suffocation soon after birth. In the case of Cleyed, he only survived a short time after being born … his owners said that trying to keep him alive would have been inhumane. 3. Faith -- This dog was born with three legs … a deformed front leg that was later amputated, and two hind legs that were fully developed. She taught herself to to stand, walk and run on her hind legs … and became an inspiration to people living with disabilities. Faith gained celebrity status as she interacted with US soldiers who were injured or returning home. She was even given the title of E-5 Sergeant out of Fort Lewis … the ceremony was attended by 4,000 troops. She appeared with Oprah Winfrey, went on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, had her own website, and was a celebrity endorser for various animal products. She wasn’t supposed to live beyond three weeks … but Faith was almost 12 years old when she passed away in 2014. 2. Albino Cyclops Shark -- It looks like some sort of Photoshop creation, but this creature was real. A picture of this shark pup with albino skin made news when people thought it looked too bizarre to be real. The fetus was taken from the belly of a pregnant bull shark caught in the Gulf of California … and researchers say the fish was was diagnosed with a rare congenital defect called cyclopia, which causes the development of only a single eye … severe cases of the condition can also cause stillbirth or miscarriage. According to experts, less than 50 cases of this sort of abnormality have been recorded. 1. Frankenlouie -- Janus (jane-us) Cats get their name from Janus (jane-us), the Roman god with two faces. Normally, these cats with two faces live only a few days and most have congenital defects. Frank and Louie was a cat with two mouths, two faces, two noses and three blue eyes. He was scheduled to be euthanized when his owner, a vet nurse took him home to care for him. She didn’t think the animal would survive. That was in 1999 … but in 2012, Frankenlouie entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest surviving Janus cat. While his center eye was blind, both outer eyes worked fine and he functioned as a normal cat. Sorry to say, Frankenlouie passed away in 2014 at the age of 15. Subscribe to Epic Wildlife http://goo.gl/6rzs5u Let's Connect -- http://www.epicadamwildlife.com/ -- http://www.facebook.com/epicadamwildlife -- http://www.twitter.com/epicwildlife -- http://gplus.to/epicwildlife