KARACHI-A two-headed buffalo calf has been born - and welcomed as a miracle - in a farm in Pakistan.

The calf was born on September 27 at Lucky Foods Dairy Farm in Karachi and has yet to be named.

It has one body, two heads, four eyes, two mouths, two noses and four ears as the result of a rare condition called polycephaly in which an animal is born with more than one head.

The condition is believed to occur when an embryo begins to split into twins but stops so that the twins remain attached.

The calf is too weak to lift his heavy heads so is unable to suckle from his mother and is being fed by bottle. CEO of the Lucky Foods Dairy, Salman Mamnoon Hussain said: ‘A two-headed calf! I didn’t believe it when the farm manager gave me the news on the phone. ‘I rushed to the farm to see the calf. It is a miracle. ‘Upon touching the calf, I was surprised to see that his one head was cold and the other was a bit hot,’ Mr Hussain said. 

He said they didn’t believe the calf would survive even for a day but the bizarre animal has defied the odds to survive for a week. The CEO of Lucky Foods Dairy Farm welcomed the calf’s birth as a miracle and hopes that the little animal will survive. It is currently being bottle fed because it cannot lift its heads to suckle.

 ‘The calf is too weak to stand on his feet because of the heavy weight of his heads. ‘The farm vets are taking care of the calf. We thought he would not survive for a day but he has survived over 100 hrs. ‘I would like to see him live, and see him get up and walk and function,’ he said.

Each head of a polycephalic animal has its own brain, and they share control of the organs and limbs, though the specific structure of the connections varies between each case.

Animals with the condition rarely live beyond a few months.

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