A Two-Headed, Three Ear and Four Eye Calf Was Born in Ethiopia - Case Report

Abstract

A calf with two- headed, three ear and four eye was born in Ethiopia at April, 2025, which is a rare congenital condition characterized by abnormal development of the body due to a genetic anomaly that occurs in rare cases, only one or two in the more than 35 million calves born each year in the world come out with that kind of deformity. The location of the case: The incident occurred in Atille Kebele (Village), Masha Woreda, Sheka Zone, South West Ethiopia and an area where farmers often use herbicides on their fields and some veterinary drug as a growth promoter for their livestock illegally.

Keywords: Calves; Dicephaly; Congenital deformity; Masha SWE

Introduction

There are few reported cases of two-headed in cattle (Bos indicus), many of the two-headed creatures are born dead. Joseph Paschal, a livestock specialist at the Texas AgriLife Extension, said the twoheaded cow could live if both of its head are fully attached to its body, meaning if food and water, as well as oxygen, can easily flow through the calf. If the calf ’s both heads are tied in physiologically, it could live a very long time “But typically, with something like that, there's something wrong. Cow in Georgia has given birth to a two-headed calf; cow is refusing to allow her strange offspring to suckle, so they are giving it milk from a bottle, the calf eats with both heads. There are often two-headed cows, goats, camels, llamas and sheep, but very few are born alive. "Most that are born alive only live two or three days." Malformation of the head and face is a common phenomenon among sheep abnormalities [1]. Most environmentally caused congenital defects will occur during a short period of the calving season, from cows that were managed as a group. After proper diagnosis, a change in management is necessary to correct these conditions [2].

Case Presentation

A calf (local cattle breed) in Atille village located 10 km from Masha, was born with two heads that give it four eyes, three ears, two mouths and two nasals, attached to one body, calf was born. When the calf was born, its mother was severely injured in labor, so it died, but the calf was in good condition earlier. The calf was born in April, 2025 and dead due to mother’s extensive labor. It belongs to the small herd (10 cows) which manage by reserved farmer with his family which was one of many small herds in that village, that case was the first one in all herds which managed there as farmers said. Parturition: Ordinarily cow suffer from fetal cause of dystocia (fetal monster), calf head over size true ‘Breech' orientation posterior presentation dorso-sacral position both hind limbs flexed at hip, labor was delayed from beginning a morning till night, manually helped parturition by rotating calf to hind limbs. The calf was so badly injured when it was removed and the veterinarian did not arrive in time that the calf nearly died, but its mother is in good health (Figure 1).

    

    

    Figure 1: A Calf with two-headed, three ear and four eye was born in Ethiopia.