Villagers baffled by mutant cow with a fifth leg on its back

The residents of a Chinese village in Sanyuan county of Shaanxi province left baffled over a ‘mutant’ cow born with five legs as its extra limb grew on its back.

The footage showed the mutant cow, now eight months old, standing in a farmer, Mr Zhao’s house who has confessed that he was troubled by the birth of the mutant animal after some neighbours deeming it ‘unlucky’.

According to the report, the cow weighed around 10 kilograms (22 pounds) when it was born and it now weighs around 100 kilograms (220 pounds) under the meticulous care of the owner.

Mr Zhao told the reporter that the cow’s fifth leg had grown with the animal and could even move when he touched it. He said he was worried because more and more neighbours had heard about his cow and thought that it spelt back luck.

Liu Beizhan, a local animal husbandry expert, urged the villagers not to panic and explained that the cow had a deformity called polymelia.

Polymelia – in other words, extra limbs – is an extremely uncommon disorder. A 2002 study estimated that out of every 100,000 cattle born worldwide, fewer than four have extra limbs.

The news was originally reported by Shaanxi Urban Express, a programme from Shaanxi TV station on Tuesday.