People in Sultan Kudarat, a small village in the Philippines are all in a state of shock after a farmyard goat delivered a human-like creature. The upper half of the body looked like a human, while the lower half literally resembled a pig. Interestingly, the small furless animal even had a naval, just like a human.
Josephine Repique, the owner of the farmyard revealed that pregnant goat went into labour earlier this month on November 2. As the delivery process turned complicated, cesarian was conducted to take the babies out.
"We were shocked. We can't explain how it looks like that. All our neighbours flocked into our house to get a good look. Nobody knows what it is, but it's not a goat. It's scary. We're all wondering why it happened," said Josephine Repique, Express.co.uk reports.
Even though the babies were taken out from mother's womb successfully, the infants and mother soon took their last breath.
As all the infants and mother died soon after the delivery, many villagers in the area have started claiming that the creature was cursed, and it could bring bad luck to the farm owner's family, and sometimes to the entire village.
However, medical experts reveal that the bizarre creature is actually a mutant. Dr Agapita Salces, a top researcher at the Institute of Animal Science of the University of the Philippines suggested that the deformity of the infant could be the result of a genetic mutation in the womb caused by mosquito bites.
"It is a possible case of genetic mutation. It is also possible that the mother contracted a disease called Rift Valley fever from mosquito bites and this caused the impaired development of the infant," said Agapita.
This is not the first time that birth defects caused due to genetic mutations are perplexing medical experts. A few months back, a mutant calf was born in China with just two legs in its body. In 2014, a goat with eight legs and both female and male reproductive organs took birth in Croatia. As per veterinary experts, an underdeveloped twin sibling which lived in the mother's womb might be the reason behind the new born's eight legs and twin reproductive organs.
