Did You Hear The One About The Chick With Four Legs?

Stumpy is special. Extra special. Stumpy has webbed feet, which he should seeing how he’s a duck, but Stumpy has FOUR. Because of rare mutation, Stumpy has two nearly full-sized legs behind the two he uses.

Duck farmer Nicky Janaway, from New Forest, Hampshire (about 95 miles southwest of London) said, “It was absolutely bizarre. I was thinking ‘he’s got too many legs’ and I kept counting ‘one, two, three, four.’” Stumpy is doing well according to Janaway, who runs the Warrawee Duck Farm, “He’s eating and surviving so far, and he is running about with those extra legs acting like stabilizers.”

The mutation is rare, but it has been seen before in the duck world. In 2002, Jake, a duckling from Queensland, Australia was born with the same condition, but died soon after.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…..there’s something strange going on in the animal kingdom.

I must admit, the little bugger is cute. Extra legs and all.

Fun facts about ducks:

A male duck is called a ‘drake.’

Ducks live 2-12 years, depending on species.

Ducks are related to geese and swans; and are the smallest of the three, with shorter necks and wings and a stout body.

The webbed feet of ducks don’t have nerves or blood vessels. This means ducks never feel the cold, even if they swim in icy cold water.

Ducks were once wild until they were domesticated by the Chinese many hundreds of years ago.

More about ducks at Creature Features

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