Chinese farmer shocked to discover four extra legs protruding from piglet’s stomach

Chinese farmer shocked to discover four extra legs protruding from piglet’s stomach

Mangalore Today News Network

China, Aug 16, 2014:  An eight-legged pig has been born in rural China and is doing well despite the deformity.

The piglet, third eldest in a litter of eight, was delivered at around 8am on August 2 at a farm located in the Nanchuan District of Chongqing.

While it gets around on four trotters like its siblings, it has to accommodate four smaller limbs protruding from the belly area.

Shocked: Farmer Tang Yongxiu with the eight-legged piglet born on August 2 in Chongqing, China

The front two extra legs measure around 4cm with the ones behind almost twice as long.

Farmer Tang Yongxiu, 63, said he wasn’t there for the birth but when he arrived home his wife told him a ’six-legged monster’ had been born.

However, when he went to the pigsty and cleaned the piglet he discovered that it actually had eight legs.

Coping well: While the animals gets around on four trotters like its siblings, it has to accommodate four smaller limbs protruding from the belly area

 

Unusual: The front two extra legs measure around 4cm with the ones behind almost twice as long

In the 20 years he has been raising livestock, Mr Yongxiu says he has never seen anything like it.

His 90-year-old mother also hasn’t come across such a specimen.

The eight-legged piglet has become an unlikely celebrity in the area with dozens of photographers and experts wanting to catch a glimpse of it.

Guo Zongyi, a director at the Chongqing Academy of Animal Science, said that pigs with five legs - the fifth usually growing from one of the other legs - are commonly seen.

Farmer Tang Yongxiu plans to raise the piglet in a separate room, to see what it will look like in the future

 

On show: The eight-legged piglet has become an unlikely celebrity in the area with dozens of photographers and experts wanting to catch a glimpse of it

However, ’octopigs’ are extremely rare.

He suspects that the extra four limbs are the result of inbreeding or genetic mutation.

Owner, Mr Yongxiu, said that apart from its legs, the piglet is no different from the others in the litter.

Instead of rearing the animal for meat, he plans to keep it on the farm as a ’specimen’ to see ’what it will look like in the future.’


Family pack: Owner, Mr Yongxiu, said that apart from its legs, the piglet is no different from the others in the litter

 

Mealtime: The eight-legged piglet is feeding well and growing at a normal rate