# Almost a real gryphon!



## Eske (Jun 24, 2010)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you an actual, living gryphon hatchling.  Well... okay, maybe not quite.  

But it's still cute as hell.  c:



Rough translation of the article:

RHENOY -- Paul van Mook from Rhenoy has raised chickens for over 30 years, but this week for the first time ever he saw a chick with four legs strolling on his farm.  

"It's special, according to a woman teaching at the university of Utrecht," said the pensioner to a local newspaper.  

According to van Mook, the little animal is not bothered by the extra legs.  "It just runs along with the rest.  You can tell the extra legs are alive, because they're warm.  Specialists suspect that this is the start of a siamese twin," according to van Mook.


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## Bloodshot_Eyes (Jun 24, 2010)

Twice the drumsticks.


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## Evandeskunk (Jun 24, 2010)

It'll die of something eventually =/.


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## Lobar (Jun 24, 2010)

DOUBLE IT!


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## Icky (Jun 24, 2010)

At first I was *d'aww*

But then I *wait what is that* 



Evandenoob said:


> It'll die of something eventually =/.


Unlike every other living thing?


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## Kajet (Jun 24, 2010)

Evandenoob said:


> It'll die of something eventually =/.


 
Pretty much everything does.


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## Plantar (Jun 24, 2010)

Damn, it's adorable.


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## Oovie (Jun 24, 2010)

"Specialists suspect that this is the start of a siamese twin," This _is_ or this _was _the start of a siamese twin? Are they saying something is going to keep developing from that bird after hatching?


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## Thatch (Jun 24, 2010)

It's ugly and will die young from horrible organ failures.


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## Atrak (Jun 24, 2010)

It looks like the back foot is facing backwards.


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## Marley (Jun 24, 2010)

It's adorable. I really hope it doesn't die. It's just a couple of extra legs, after all, and they're alive...


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## Lobar (Jun 24, 2010)

Oovie said:


> "Specialists suspect that this is the start of a siamese twin," This _is_ or this _was _the start of a siamese twin? Are they saying something is going to keep developing from that bird after hatching?


 
It's a rough translation so it's hard to tell.

edit: just noticed that the OP is a native Netherlander, so she could probably actually answer this.


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## Willow (Jun 24, 2010)

It's so adorable, but it's probably got some sort of defect :c

If it lives though, this would be kinda cool to see imo, granted it's not miserable


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## Eske (Jun 24, 2010)

Oovie said:


> "Specialists suspect that this is the start of a siamese twin," This _is_ or this _was _the start of a siamese twin? Are they saying something is going to keep developing from that bird after hatching?



Hahaha, it _was_ the start of a siamese twin.
If you want to be technical, it _is_ a siamese twin -- but the "second" twin simply has no head/upper body.

It would be pretty awesome -- though logically impossible, of course -- if both twins somehow kept developing and eventually separated.  

Now that I think about it, actually... I wasn't aware twins were even possible in egg-born species.  That makes this story even more incredible...


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## Willow (Jun 24, 2010)

Eske said:


> Now that I think about it, actually... I wasn't aware twins were even possible in egg-born species.  That makes this story even more incredible...


 Well, I believe this is how they get things like two-headed snakes
When two sperms fertilize the same egg

It's rare though when it happens


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## Atrak (Jun 24, 2010)

Eske said:


> Hahaha, it _was_ the start of a siamese twin.
> If you want to be technical, it _is_ a siamese twin -- but the "second" twin simply has no head/upper body.
> 
> It would be pretty awesome -- though logically impossible, of course -- if both twins somehow kept developing and eventually separated.
> ...



You've never cooked an egg with a double-yolk?


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## Willow (Jun 24, 2010)

atrakaj said:


> You've never cooked an egg with a double-yolk?


 Ever crack an egg with a partially developed fetus?
And it's all bloody and gross on the inside


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## Eske (Jun 24, 2010)

atrakaj said:


> You've never cooked an egg with a double-yolk?


 
I'm referring more to twins that actually develop, let alone live to hatch.


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## Willow (Jun 24, 2010)

Eske said:


> I'm talking about twins that actually develop, let alone live to hatch.


 Like I said before

I believe it's because two sperms manage to fertilize the same egg


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## Dan. (Jun 24, 2010)

*cough*Amusingdeformities*cough*


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## Thatch (Jun 24, 2010)

WillowWulf said:


> Like I said before
> 
> I believe it's because two sperms manage to fertilize the same egg


 
The eggcell can simply divide into two separate enteties. That's how single-egg twins are born. There's no need for separate sperms.


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## Koronikov (Jun 24, 2010)

WillowWulf said:


> It's so adorable, but it's probably got some sort of defect :c


 
uh the extra legs are sort of a defect

*Side note just because something has extra body parts does not mean it necessarily will be diseased in any way shape or form it just increases odds, however every genetic "defect" persay has a reason for instance Sickle Cell anemia


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## Koronikov (Jun 24, 2010)

WillowWulf said:


> Like I said before
> 
> I believe it's because two sperms manage to fertilize the same egg


 
once the first sperm penetrates the egg wall, the egg wall is chemically changed so that nothing else can get in, makes it a death trap for any other sperm


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## Willow (Jun 24, 2010)

Koronikov said:


> uh the extra legs are sort of a defect


 _Aside_ from the extra legs obviously

I'm talking about internal defects, things like that 
Birth defects that could actually cause harm


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## Koronikov (Jun 24, 2010)

WillowWulf said:


> _Aside_ from the extra legs obviously
> 
> I'm talking about internal defects, things like that
> Birth defects that could actually cause harm


true the likely hood of internal defects are there but there as present there as any other chicken this chicken the chance and 2 legs or 4 legs, "rolled" persay and got 4


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## Eske (Jun 24, 2010)

Koronikov said:


> true the likely hood of internal defects are there but there as present there as any other chicken this chicken the chance and 2 legs or 4 legs, "rolled" persay and got 4


 
I doubt that's true.  It's fairly clear just from the photograph alone that this is a set of siamese twins, not just a chick with 4 legs.
So imagine what the poor thing's intestines look like.

Essentially, it may very well have two digestive systems, and the odds are they don't line up quite right to allow food to flow all the way from one end to the other.


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## Willow (Jun 24, 2010)

Koronikov said:


> true the likely hood of internal defects are there but there as present there as any other chicken this chicken the chance and 2 legs or 4 legs, "rolled" persay and got 4


 True enough


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## Torrijos-sama (Jun 24, 2010)

The picture is cute, but not as cute as baby Owls.


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## Xenke (Jun 24, 2010)

JesusFish said:


> The picture is cute, but not as cute as baby Owls.


 
Indeed


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## Holsety (Jun 24, 2010)

JesusFish said:


> The picture is cute, but not as cute as baby Owls.


 They look like fungus growths attached to the tree.


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## Khafre (Jun 24, 2010)

Awww, baby quadruped chicken. <3

I wonder how functional the two extra legs are... judgin' by how the feet are bent backwards, and the farmer says he "isn't bothered" by having extra legs rather using them, probably not at all. But it'd be awesome if it did have nerve/muscle use and managed to be some sort of awesome fully-functional freak-of-nature six-limbed vertebrate... =D


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## LizardKing (Jun 24, 2010)

I bet there's porn of this already


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## Thatch (Jun 24, 2010)

LizardKing said:


> I bet there's porn of this already


 
Gryphon porn, duh.


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## Tabasco (Jun 24, 2010)

Now for CHOCOBOS!


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## LizardKing (Jun 24, 2010)

Thatch said:


> Gryphon porn, duh.


 
No no no, mutated chicken twin porn


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## Thatch (Jun 24, 2010)

LizardKing said:


> No no no, mutated chicken twin porn


 
Can't find it. Someone must make it now.


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## Moonfall The Fox (Jun 24, 2010)

this bird MAY have extra organs but if it survived hatching and is up and moving they will most likely not be harmful. Plenty of animals with extra legs live normalo happy lives.


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## Koronikov (Jun 27, 2010)

Eske said:


> I doubt that's true.  It's fairly clear just from the photograph alone that this is a set of siamese twins, not just a chick with 4 legs.
> So imagine what the poor thing's intestines look like.
> 
> Essentially, it may very well have two digestive systems, and the odds are they don't line up quite right to allow food to flow all the way from one end to the other.


 
that could be the case or it could just be a four legged gene, either way i would love to see how this progresses, if it is a four leg gene, is it dominant or recessive, ect. ect. i mean hell im like nerdgasming all over this, >.>' genetics is my future field of study


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## Koronikov (Jun 27, 2010)

Khafre said:


> Awww, baby quadruped chicken. <3
> 
> I wonder how functional the two extra legs are... judgin' by how the feet are bent backwards, and the farmer says he "isn't bothered" by having extra legs rather using them, probably not at all. But it'd be awesome if it did have nerve/muscle use and managed to be some sort of awesome fully-functional freak-of-nature six-limbed vertebrate... =D


 
True i hadnt noticed that earlier, he never makes mention of It being able to use them, TO GOOGLE


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## Tally (Jun 27, 2010)

Any possibility in passing down it's genes? Maybe in the future all chickens will look like that.


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## Koronikov (Jun 27, 2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymelia 
Also , apprently this isnt very uncommon, the legs are not functional, the chickens just kinda drag em behind them, damn, kinda disappointing
*edit for tally* also found nothing saying the gene was dominant or not :/


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## Roose Hurro (Jun 27, 2010)

Eske said:


> Hahaha, it _was_ the start of a siamese twin.
> If you want to be technical, it _is_ a siamese twin -- but the "second" twin simply has no head/upper body.
> 
> It would be pretty awesome -- though logically impossible, of course -- if both twins somehow kept developing and eventually separated.
> ...


 
Doesn't matter, egg or live birth, siamese twinning is always a possibility.  After all, even a live-born creature comes from an egg.


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## Eske (Jun 27, 2010)

Roose Hurro said:


> Doesn't matter, egg or live birth, siamese twinning is always a possibility.  After all, even a live-born creature comes from an egg.


 
Yes, but as I mentioned earlier, I was more or less referring to surviving twins. c:

Because the egg is hard-shelled and cannot expand, I assume the twins would be extremely cramped (moreso than placental-born twins would be), thus making it highly unlikely that egg-born twins would ever survive.  But I realize now that, assuming this began as a set of twins, one of the twins probably partially absorbed the other, which probably increased the chick's survival odds immensely.


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## Conker (Jun 27, 2010)

What a horrible monstrosity


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## Koronikov (Jun 28, 2010)

Conker said:


> What a horrible monstrosity


 
actually not as uncommon as you would think for this type of thing to happen, also not a monstrosity it is the slow slow slow process of evolution


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## CerbrusNL (Jun 28, 2010)

Koronikov said:


> actually not as uncommon as you would think for this type of thing to happen, also not a monstrosity it is the slow slow slow process of evolution


 Dude, Siamese twins are not "In the process of evolution", they're mother nature's mess-ups (Yea, I said it). While it is true that mutation is the base of evolution, Mutations as severe as this have no chance of survival.
They can't pass their Siamese genes to have Siamese kids, if they live long enough to try, even. Nor can a Siamese twin be cloned, as far as I know of.


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## CaptainCool (Jun 28, 2010)

Thatch said:


> It's ugly and will die young from horrible organ failures.


 
this, totally... im pretty sure it wont live long =/


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## Roose Hurro (Jul 1, 2010)

CerbrusNL said:


> Dude, Siamese twins are not "In the process of evolution", they're mother nature's mess-ups (Yea, I said it). While it is true that mutation is the base of evolution, Mutations as severe as this have no chance of survival.
> *They can't pass their Siamese genes to have Siamese kids, if they live long enough to try, even. Nor can a Siamese twin be cloned, as far as I know of.*


 
Identical twins are natural clones, they happen when one egg cell splits into two separate, individual clusters.  Siamese twins occur when this splitting process halts, the two cell clusters incompletely separated.


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## Adelin (Jul 1, 2010)

Roose Hurro said:


> Identical twins are natural clones, they happen when one egg cell splits into two separate, individual clusters.  Siamese twins occur when this splitting process halts, the two cell clusters incompletely separated.


 
Its kind of sad when that happens. I saw a show on discovery once were two siamese twins around the ages of 28 wanted to have surgery to seperate and it was almost a success when one vein in the brain exploded. Mother nature can be so cruel sometimes. ;C


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## DeadHorus (Jul 1, 2010)

Is it bad if I expected a Rick Roll in the link?


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## bearetic (Jul 1, 2010)

I hope you don't mind I posted this to reddit. http://www.reddit.com/r/furry/comments/ckv9w/chicken_with_four_legs/


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## Roose Hurro (Jul 1, 2010)

Adelin said:


> Its kind of sad when that happens. *I saw a show on discovery once* were two siamese twins around the ages of 28 wanted to have surgery to seperate and it was almost a success when one vein in the brain exploded. Mother nature can be so cruel sometimes. ;C


 
Did you ever see a show about Abigail and Brittany Hensel?  If not:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMzK6iz6uVs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSy9W3gIhnQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_and_Brittany_Hensel


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