Meet the weirdest animal mutations you've ever seen

The octopus is an octopod, that is, it is an animal that has eight "legs", which are its tentacles. But what if some genetic error happens and it is born with six, what would we call it? Hexapod? Check out what this octopus looks like, as well as others that were born with genetic changes that resulted in somewhat strange appearances.

11 Henry the Octopus with Six Tentacles

Henry, an octopus from the British Blackpool Sealife aquarium, is slightly different from his octopod relatives, as he has only six tentacles. The clam was caught off the coast of Wales and transferred to a local zoo, where it was taken with seven other octopuses to the aquarium where it is today.

At the time of these transfers, no one had yet noticed anything different about him. His mutation was only discovered when he once stuck to the glass of the water tank he was in.

It was when the animal began to be evaluated by the aquarium team, which found the lack of two tentacles. Although octopuses have the ability to regenerate severed tentacles, this possibility was ruled out after the researchers' analysis. He really was born with only six.

No other record of such an octopus has ever been made before, making Henry the first hexapod marine mollusk to be documented. It is not a new species, but the result of a genetic mutation.

10 - The “octocabra”

When Zoran Poparic, a farmer from Kutjeva, Croatia, saw one of the puppies that his Sarka goat had just given birth (in May of that year), he had to call a neighbor to help confirm that he wasn't going crazy or had drunk too much.

The small animal had eight legs, plus two sexual organs, one male and one female. Local veterinarians believe the goat absorbed her underdeveloped twin while still in the womb.

Despite the fright, the other two little eight-legged goat siblings were born normal on the same calf. The sad thing was that even with its eight little legs, the goat did not have the strength to stand and could not walk. At birth, the vets said the octocabra would not live long. The current state of the pet is unknown.

9 - Faith, the two-legged dog

At birth, Faith suffered from a disability that did not allow the full development of her front paws. She could not walk and had been rejected by her mother, who was a stray dog. Faith was found by 17-year-old Reuben Stringfellow, who took her home. Shortly thereafter, his two front legs weakened completely and had to be amputated.

With only her hind legs, Faith was taught to stand, walk, jump, and run. Today, she walks on her hind legs like a human being and has even become a star of TV shows where she has been, such as The Oprah Show. She also visits several military bases and hospitals, where she serves as an incentive for wounded soldiers and veterans.

8 - The two-headed snake

In addition to having two heads, this albino snake has male and female organs. In 1999, the reptile was purchased by the World Aquarium in St. Louis (USA) when it was just a few weeks old.

Since then, the strange snake has been visited by over one million people throughout its eight years of life, which is considered a good time for an animal with genetic problems. It is reported that the snake was trying to move in two different directions at the same time and also that the two heads were fighting with each other for food.

7 - Froggy the Three-headed Frog

While mutant frogs aren't entirely unheard of, one with three heads (and a few extra arms) is still incredibly rare. But this mutant (three-headed, six-legged) frog was found in the garden of a UK kindergarten in 2004.

The discovery was made by a student who had just been dropped off at school on a Thursday morning. Imagine the fright of the child? The students initially thought they were three frogs together, but were surprised when they saw that it was really one body.

Unfortunately, the animal was not properly packaged for research because the school staff captured it by placing it in a tank. The other day, they found that the amphibian had escaped. But they said everything seemed to work normally, but it is not known if the three digestive systems worked.

At the time, biologists said that while mutant frogs have been reported for about 200 years, one with three heads and six legs is totally unheard of. The mutation may have been caused by parasites, pollution or genetic alteration. Some people believe the mutation is a side effect of the decommissioned Hinkley nuclear power plant, which is 12 miles from where the bug was found.

6 - The "squats"

The "squigts" - "squitten" in English from the junction of squirrel and kitten - are really just the pussies that were born with a change that makes them look like a squirrel, not a cross between These animals.

This is because they have short front paws and usually have to stand on the back like squirrels. These cats are affected by a mutation called radial hypoplasia, which prevents their front paws from fully developing.

In mild cases, cats can still use their front paws to move around like rabbits. In moderate cases, they hunt with their hind legs and may even use their tail to balance, such as kangaroos. But in severe cases, they move entirely with their hind legs and look like squirrels when they stand up.

5 - Rudy, the two-faced pig

Rudy is a pig that has two heads, two snouts, two ears and three eyes. The middle eye is blind and where the two heads meet. It was bought from its owner by an animal rescue group and renamed it Ditto.

Only one of Ditto's snouts was functional. All his life, Ditto had trouble walking and had to use a special walker to get around. He had only just begun to learn to use his two front paws when he died in 1998, just two months after arriving under the rescue group.

4 - Kenny, the white tiger with Down's syndrome

Kenny, an albino white tiger, was the first of its kind to be born with a chromosomal failure that resulted in a Down-like syndrome. He was rescued from a clandestine captivity, where the owner was mating between sister animals, which probably caused the mutation of Kenny.

In addition to the mental deficiency caused by the chromosomal alteration, Kenny also had a shorter, flattened muzzle, eyes wide apart, wider head and deformed dentition. The captive owner sought to get a white tiger with illegal crossings.

Animals like these can also suffer from cleft lip, a congenital deformity of their paws, immune deficiency and deformities in their spines and organs. In fact, most white tigers are stillborn, and those that are not usually die early. Unfortunately, Kenny died of cancer in 2008.

3 - Cats with extra fingers

Polydactyly is when an animal has more fingers than normal. The condition is most common in cats, which usually have five little toes on each of their front paws and four on their backs. But cats with polydactyly may have much more than that.

Jake, a tabby cat from Canada, is recognized as the cat with the most fingers on its paws. In total, he has 28 little fingers, seven in each paw. The condition is more common among cats in England, Wales, the eastern US, and Canada than anywhere else in the world.

They were popularized by the famous writer Ernest Hemingway and are sometimes called "Hemingway Cats." They are also called cats with "snowshoe legs" or "pancake feet" because the extra toes make them look like bigger feet.

2 - The two-faced cat

Frank and Louie are the names of the "faces" of a cat with a head but two faces and three eyes. Its mutation is called diprosopia or craniofacial duplication, a very rare type of mutation that results in an animal or human with two faces on one head.

Although diprosopia has been reported a few times in cats, most survived no more than a few days after birth. The cat 'Frank and Louie' is an exception. He turned 12 on September 8, 2011, earning a spot in Guinness as the oldest (two-faced) cat in the world.

The animal is owned by Marty Stevens, a veterinary technician who adopted him after his former owner brought him to the clinic where she worked to sacrifice him. The kitten has a brain and, like Rudy the little pig, the middle eye (which divides the faces) doesn't work. The animal feeds on Frank's mouth because Louie's mouth has no lower jaw and is not attached to its esophagus.

1– Stumpy, the four-legged duck

Stumpy, a four-legged duck, was born on a UK farm in 2007. The pet's two extra legs were probably the result of poor cell division and could not be used for walking, and hung behind its functional legs.

The duckling was kept in captivity after birth because its owner feared that its extra limbs would be trapped in bushes. Even so, one of his extra legs eventually got caught in a pen and needed to be removed, as did the other, which necrosed and was also removed.