Wednesday, 2 Oct 2024

Mutant five-legged lamb born on 2-2-22 at British farm is ‘one in a million’

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A mutant lamb with five legs has been born at a family farm alive and well, in what is said to be odds of one-in-a-million.

Heather Hogarty, who part-owns Whitehouse Farm in Morpeth, has shared a video of the cute lamb and asked people to come up with a name for her.

In a clip, the wooly animal is bleating and trotting around on her four functional legs, with the extra one sticking out of her left flank.

The additional limb doesn't seem to bother the lamb and she wanders around the barn with bright eyes and a look of mischief.

Heather said it is only the second time she has seen a five limb in her 25 years at Whitehouse Farm.

She explained: "You could see it as soon as it was born, it's on the front left side so it's just another leg that comes out of the shoulder.

In a twist of fate, the lamb was born in a set of triplets on February 22 – or 22/02/22 – which was branded "Twosday" and some people thought the date would bring the end of the world.

Heather's previous five-legged lamb, named Quinto, was a healthy ewe but had to have her extra leg amputated because it stuck out of her stomach and dragged on the ground.

Quinto went on to live a long life and gave birth to her own lambs, Chronicle Live reports.

Heather added: "We had one nine years ago but that leg was right in the centre of her stomach while this one comes out the shoulder and doesn't reach the ground.

"When the new lamb was born I was thinking it was Quinto reincarnated.

"She was born on April Fools Day and people thought we had stitched it on as a joke.

"They are the only two odd things we've had here, and we've been open to the public for 25 years now."

Having extra legs is called polymelia and either occurs as a result of a mutation or the partial development of a conjoined twin.

  • Animals

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