Villagers flock to see baby chicken born with four legs

A rare four-legged baby chicken has been discovered in rural India where it happily lives with an extra set of limbs.

The two-month-old chick was born with polymelia which means that it developed two extra legs in the egg.

The little chick clearly has two normal legs and an extra set that dangle behind it in a video filmed at its home in Rojhada, Betul, in northern India.

Javed Ali, who lives in the Kidwai Ward of the city, owns the four-limbed chicken.

He said that the unusual creature has sparked much excitement in the local community, with many people coming to visit the tiny chick.

And people have even tried to buy the diminutive bird for as much as 5,000 rupees (£55.30).

But Javed has grown attached to the chick and has been reluctant to sell it.

Despite the local interest in the bird, Kamlesh Ahirwar, Professor of Zoology in Betul, told local media that such incidents are normal in nature and the bird's unusual appearance is not a miracle

Polymelia is a birth defect which causes a creature to have extra limbs which are often shrunken or deformed.

The embryo may have started as conjoined twins where one twin degenerated completely except for their limbs, which end up attached to the other twin.

Or the extra legs could have been caused by a condition called dipygus in which the body axis forks along the torso, so the posterior end duplicates, forming two extra legs.