Creepy outstretched "arms" and twisted torso . . . you really wooden want to bump into this dodgy-looking oak.
It was spotted beside a hedge near Colchester, Essex.
But it’s not the only tree giving Brits the heebie-jeebies. There’s a frowning beast in Finsbury Park, North London, and a beech in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, looks like a screaming gargoyle.
They are straight from the Lord Of The Rings films, which had trees with faces that wandered about. But don’t fret, this lot are definitely rooted to the spot. (The Sun)
A Georgian farmer has proudly showed off the latest addition to his menagerie of livestock, a hermaphrodite lamb with six legs and a big appetite.
The wondrous birth happened in Velistsikhe, Georgia.
The tiny brown and white lamb can be seen nursing from its mother and maneuvering happily around its stable home.
The lamb appears to be quite tame as it is hoisted up and around by farmer Abadzhanov Albert, who beams from ear to ear throughout a video.
His family are also impressed with the leggy critter, and a youngster can be seen tenderly stroking its soft fur.
Abadzhanov explained the birth had caused chatter amongst locals and his peers.
He said: ‘I have been asking the other shepherds, but none of them remember such case.
‘There were three-legged lambs, one-eyed, but not six-legged, bisexual one. The lamb eats well, but moves with difficulty.’
Birth mutations are reasonably common in farm animals like sheep, cows and goats.
They occur when an egg does not completely split in to two, meaning what could have been twin offspring end up as one offspring with extra limbs or sometimes in extreme cases, an extra head.
It’s a theory that the farmer supports. ‘Most probably there were twins, but then the embryos were united, and we’ve got a strange lamb,’ he said.
There has been a string of unusual births in Georgia since the start of this year, with stories of a three-legged cat and two-headed lamb being reported in the media. (Metro)
The odds of a two-headed, or bicephalic, snake being born are 10,000 to one, but nevertheless, this albino Honduran milk snake was recently hatched in the U.S.
Staff at conservation group Sunshine Serpents in Florida were incubating seven milk snake eggs, but got a huge shock when nine heads emerged, because as well as the two-headed snake, one egg contained twins.
Owner Daniel Parker, a University of Central Florida biologist, said: ‘I did a double take. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at.’
Often, the term albino refers to white colouring, but for snakes, it simply means a lack of dark pigmentation.
Biologist Parker says two-headed snakes have been documented to live as long as 20 years in captivity.
With two brains giving commands to a single body, he says the snake, which isn’t venomous, would have a difficult time surviving in the wild.
Milk snakes are said by some to suck milk from cows’ udders, but this is a myth. They do however favour living in barns, as they like cool dark environments, which may be the source of the misconception.
Their diet consists of insects, lizards, birds and small mammals. (Daily Mail)
Scientists have confirmed that a one-eyed albino ‘cyclops’ shark discovered earlier this year is indeed real.
The shark was found to have only one eye in the middle of its face and lacking the usual grey colour, after it was removed from the womb of its mother, a dusky shark.
Shocked fisherman Enrique Lucero León caught the female dusky shark earlier this year. To his amazement he found the deformed shark embryo along with its nine regularly developed siblings.
‘This is extremely rare,’ said biologist Felipe Galván-Magaña, of the Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences in La Paz, Mexico.
‘As far as I know, less than 50 examples of an abnormality like this have been recorded.’
Scientists thoroughly examined the shark, confirming that it was a genuine birth deformity as the embryo suffered cyclopia, a condition also found in several mammals including humans. This meant that the shark did not survive for long outside of the womb.
The shark’s condition is known as cyclopia, and is a rare congenital disorder characterised by the failure of the front portion of the brain to properly divide the orbits of the eye into two cavities.
Cyclopia occurs within the spectrum of brain and face defects known as holoprosencephaly, which in severe cases can result in miscarriage or stillbirth.
In 2005 a kitten born with only one eye and no nose caused a similar online stir.
The feline, one of two in a litter, became known as Cy (short for Cyclops) and died within a day. (wrapup)
Frank and Louie is being immortalised in the new edition of Guinness World Records after he was officially recognised as the world’s oldest two-faced cat.
Celebrating his twelfth birthday, the moggy was officially proclaimed the ‘longest surviving Janus cat’.
The term ‘Janus cat’ was coined by British zoologist Dr Karl Shuker, based on the two-faced Roman god of transitions, gates and doorways.
Frank and Louie suffers from congenital condition craniofacial duplication, which means he has three eyes, two mouths and two noses.
There aren’t two animals in there though – he functions on a single brain, and although two of his eyes work normally, the third central eye doesn’t function.
Cats of his ilk are not expected to survive much beyond a few days after birth, so Frank and Louie has astounded experts.
The cat eats using Frank’s mouth on the right-hand side of his face, while Louie’s nose on the left twitches simultaneously.
The tabby lives near Worcester, Massachusetts with its owner Marty, who didn’t want to be fully identified. The former veterinary technician saved Frank and Louie from being euthanised, but admits she is surprised he has lived this long.
‘The normal life expectancy is one to four days for cats with this condition,’ she said.
‘When he was first born, every day was a blessing.’
The two faced feline will be officially recognised in Guinness World Records’ 2012 edition. (Metro)
This tiny porker has an excuse for making a pig of himself at mealtimes – he really does have two mouths to feed.
The two-month-old youngster – part of a litter born on a farm in Deshengtang, Jilin province, northern China – can use both his mouths to eat and appears otherwise normal, say his owners.
Farmer Li Zhenjun and his wife Yu Wanfen named the piglet Xiaobao – or ‘Babe’ in English – after the movie about an extraordinary talking pig.
Li explained: "The mouths aren’t much of an advantage because his head is very heavy and he gets pushed around by the others.
"I’m feeding her with a bottle now and she’s doing very well." (Orange News)
A four-eared dog called Shun Shun has been discovered in China.
The owner, Peng Qiang, from Wulumuqi, Xinjiang province, said the dog was given to him by a friend a year ago.
Peng explained: "Originally we didn’t spot any difference until six months ago when he started to grow another pair of ears behind the original ears."
Pang’s family didn’t originally pay much attention, but as time went on the extra ears started to grow longer and longer and now have even outgrown the original pair, reaching 10cm in length.
Peng said Shun Shun loves to eat with his family and his favourite foods are tomatoes and watermelon. (Orange News)
A greedy little piglet from northern China is making the most of eating double the amount of her brothers and sisters – because she has two snouts.
This little piggy was born with the deformity of having two functioning mouths.
Its owner, farmer Bai Xuejin said: ‘We knew something was different because her head was so large we had to help when her mother gave birth.
‘I’ve been raising pigs for 15 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before.’
The squealer could not suckle its mother because of its unique facial figure, so Mr Xuejin had to raise it by hand until it was old enough to eat solid food.
‘Both mouths function normally and so she eats and drinks through both of them which means she gets through a lot more food than her brothers and sisters,’ he added.
Mr Xuejin, from Zhangjia in the Jilin province, is planning on saving her from the chop and putting her on show at his farm because people are fascinated by her.
He said: ‘She is too special to end up on a plate.’ (Metro)
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