Two-headed calf born in a Chinese village

A calf born with two heads has stunned farmers in a small village in China. From his home in Shaijin Village in Linshui County, south-west China’s Sichuan Province, farmer Gan Yuanhua said he initially thought the cow had given birth to twins when he saw the two heads and did not realise immediately that it was a mutation. Xu Kaiwen, a local vet who has been practicing for 30 years, said the calf’s condition was caused by a genetic mutation which has yet to be identified. The unusual condition of being born with two heads is called polycephaly and occurs in both animals and humans. The most common cause is that two identical twins begin to form from the same egg, but do not separate correctly and end up sharing the same body. In the majority of cases, animals and humans with polycephaly die soon after birth.