Although life itself is a beautiful thing, the development of one’s anatomy can often go wrong. This post will be about 7 deformed animals from various species. Whether they were born with their defects or acquired them later in life, we will discuss the challenges these animals face everyday of their lives. Like all of our bizarre posts, we will provide you with useful and detailed information. We will also include images and a video on the 10 most inspiring animals with deformities.

It is fascinating to see the perseverance in how the animals fight to not only function, but also to survive. Some of the them have already lived their challenging lives. However, their images still float around the Internet stunning viewer after viewer. Let’s discuss animals with deformities.

Deformed Steer

Our first of the seven malformed animals is a steer that has five legs. On the foot with the fifth leg is three claws. According to the description from the image file, besides the one extra leg, the steer is completely normal in all other respects. However, with the extra leg being located right next to its head, it likely puts a lot of unwanted stress on its neck. It probably also causes back pain.

Deformed Hoof

Take a look at this deformed goat’s hoof. According to the file history, the picture was drawn back in 1563 to study. The abnormality likely made it impossible for the goat to walk properly, if at all.

The Odd Piglet With Two Bottoms

This piglet is a specimen from the 18th century. It is from the collection of a man named William Hunter. However, this is not an average specimen. It is a piglet that actually has two bottoms. After extensive research, we were unable to determine whether one or both bottoms had functioned properly. It is also a mystery whether the pig had eliminated waste from just one or both sides.

Back in the 18th century, animals with abnormal conditions were often used as important teaching tools. The image of this particular pig has been shared a lot on various social networking sites.

Octopus With A Sucker Deformity

The suckers of an octopus are amazing. They have the ability to grasp objects independently, taste water and form seals on rough surfaces underwater. Their suckers are also unbelievably strong.

The image shown above is a octopus with a sucker deformity. The arm has three suckers that have fused together and are in a cluster. Perhaps, the malformation will help it grasp larger objects.

Two-Headed Snake

Bicephaly is the condition of having two heads. Although animals with more than one head are rare, the most common are snakes and turtles. Other species who have also been known to have two heads are pigs, dogs and even fish. Two heads were also seen in a partridge back in 1894.

The image shown above is a snake that has two heads. Similar to Siamese twins, when the snake’s growing embryo starts to split into identical twins, the separation stops way too soon. This is what makes the snake joined into one animal. A two-headed snake can often be a huge threat to its own self. That is, a threat to one of its own two heads. If one head happened to smell the scent of a prey that is found on the other head, it will likely attack and may even try to swallow the second head.

Most snakes that have polycephalic will have their lives cut extremely short, but some of them live much longer in captivity. Located at the Arizona State University, a king snake had lived for close to 17 years. A big reason they have their lives cut short in the wild is because they are extremely vulnerable to predators. This is because it is a challenge for them to determine which direction they should go. Therefore, if they happened to run into a predator, they wouldn’t be capable of responding quickly. Also, since the heads like to fight over which one gets to swallow the prey, they take a lot longer to feed. This leaves them even more vulnerable to getting killed.

It is also another big problem when one head is left starving. There are likely times when one head is very hungry, but the other is not. This would prevent the hungry head from getting their meal. If the head that isn’t craving a meal doesn’t help to find any prey, it’s tough luck for the other head.

A two-headed albino rat snake was born in captivity in 2000. It had male and female genitalia. What is even more strange is was actually scheduled to be auctioned on eBay for $150,000. However, due to their policy not allowing the trade of live animals, the sale never happened.

How Many Animals Is A Two-Headed Snake?

So if a snake has two heads, is it considered to be one or two animals? According to Wikipedia, polycephaly (condition of having more than one head) is described as one animal with two heads.

The Story Of Miracle Mike

For a story about an animal that lived for almost 2 years without its head, visit our article called Mike The Headless Chicken.  Although the story sounds hard to believe, it was proven to be true.

Frog With Limb Malformation

The image shows a Pacific tree frog (also known as the Pacific chorus frog) with a parasite-induced limb malformation. Due to its malformation, locomotion performance of the limbs are negatively effected. Parasites have even been known to cause the growth of a dozen extra legs on just one frog. A frog with a total of sixteen legs would be a great find for a animal oddities collector.

Three-Headed Frog: The World’s Most Controversial Animal

Check out the above video on a frog that looks like it had came straight out of a science fiction film. The frog has left scientists puzzled. It was found in Weston Super-Mare, England back in 2004. After hopping into a school yard, it was discovered to not only have three heads, but also six legs.

Experts have determined that all of its three heads and six legs appear to function normally. They were unable to determine whether it eats with one, two or all three mouths. The deformity of this mutant frog may be linked to a genetic defects or a parasite. It is also possible that it has its bizarre defect from pollution by upsetting the frog’s hormones during the stages of its development.

Skeptics believe the frog is nothing but a misunderstanding. It is too bad that by the time the news of the monster spread online and offline, it had hopped out of its tank and never came back. Scientists didn’t even get the chance to take an X-ray to see exactly why it is so deformed. Although people have reported seeing mutant frogs for around 200 years, this weird frog is extremely rare.

Conclusion

With all of the deformities animals can endure, it is absolutely amazing that some are still able to live a full life. Of course, they have to deal with a lot more challenges than an animal that is healthy and has no malformations. Luckily, some are able to get medical attention whenever necessary.

Do you know of any other deformed animals you want to share? You may be a pet owner dealing with similar struggles your own pet faces everyday. If you are, at least they are likely getting the love and attention they deserve. Animals with these rare conditions in the wild are on their own.