Goat Gives Birth To 'Half-Pig Half-Human' Animal

A goat in the Philippines has given birth to an unusual-looking animal, which some have said looks 'half-human, half-pig'.

Shocked farmer Josephine Repique, 40, said her pregnant goat gave birth earlier this month on her small farm in Sultan Kudarat.

The farmer called in a vet who performed a caesarian section and removed one healthy kid - however, the other one was pulled out to gasps of surprise.

The little fella was born without fur and seems to have shiny, pale skin with trotters and what appears to be a belly button. It is much bigger than its litter-mate.

Repique said the animal 'looked like a pig with a mix of human'.

She added: "We were shocked. We can't explain how it looks like that. All our neighbours flocked into our house to get a good look."

Sadly, shortly after giving birth the mother and both babies died, prompting fears among some villagers that it was 'a cursed mutant devil'.

Which is obviously bollocks, with the real reason more likely to be something along the lines of a genetic fault and traumatic birth.

"Nobody knows what it is," Repique said. "But it's not a goat. It's scary. We're all wondering why it happened and if it is bad luck."

Experts reckon that the goat had some sort of genetic mutation while in the womb.

Dr Agapita Salces of the Institute of Animal Science of the University of the Philippines added: "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."

Although rare, such mutations as this aren't unheard of - last year a farmer in China was shocked to find one of his pigs had given birth to a piglet with two bodies, eight legs and one head. The poor creature died shortly after being born.

Farmer Gao Baiqi, from Linyi City in China's eastern Shandong Province, whose pig gave birth to the animal, said: "Besides having one head, two bodies and eight legs, the piglet appeared normal and had all other organs.

"I had prepared milk and wanted to feed it myself, but it died in a few minutes."