Saturday, July 26, 2008

Piglet with monkey's face / Holoprosencephaly / Homer's Cyclops

Curious locals flocked to the home of owner Feng Changlin after news of the piglet spread in Fengzhang village, Xiping township.

"It's hideous. No one will be willing to buy it, and it scares the family to even look at it!" Feng told Oriental Today.

He says the piglet looks just like a monkey, with two thin lips, a small nose and two big eyes. Its rear legs are also much longer than its forelegs, causing it to jump instead of walk.

Feng's wife said the monkey-faced piglet was one of five newborns of a sow which the family had raised for nine years.

"My God, it was so scary. I didn't known what it was. I was really frightened," she said.

"But our son likes to play with it, and he stopped us from getting rid of it. He even feeds it milk."

Neighbours have suggested the couple keep the piglet to see how it looks as it matures. - orange





Okay, wow. That's some mutation. Human-pig hybrid embryos have been approved in the UK. How about China?

NOTE: China is a leader in pig genetics.
Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Danish Committee of Pig Breeding and Production (DCPBP) jointly announce the public release of pig genomic sequences. The released sequence data include 3.84 million pieces of the genomes of five different domestic pig breeds from Europe and China. The data are generated from the first large scale pig genome sequencing effort, the Sino-Danish Pig Genome Project, started in 2001 on the basis of a long standing collaboration of scientists and research institutions from China and Denmark. - continues on science daily

Update: Thanks to SilviusMD for pointing out that this is the result of a neurological-facial malformation called Holoprosencephaly. "The cause is thought to be a genetic alteration, in this case probably due to environmental exposure to certain chemicals."

With some trepeidation, I did a google image search for "Holoprosencephaly" and found some Cyclops looking individuals. One startling photo showed baby with its two eyes in a central eye socket ... and no nose. So, it's not just pigs. This happens occasionally in humans too. This same developmental disorder caused the cyclops kitten you may have seen a while back.

It would be interesting to figure out which chemicals might have caused this... but keep in mind that legends of a Cyclops goes way back, so modern pollutants can't be the only cause. Yes, I think Cyclopes were real.
Hesiod describes one group of cyclopes and Homer describes another. In Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus releases three Cyclopes, the sons of Uranus and Gaia, from the dark pit of Tartarus. They provide Zeus's thunderbolt, Hades' helmet of invisibility, and Poseidon's trident, and the gods use these weapons to defeat the Titans. In a famous episode of Homer's Odyssey, the hero Odysseus encounters the Cyclops Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon and a nereid (Thoosa), who lives with his fellow Cyclopes in a distant country. The connection between the two groups has been debated in antiquity and by modern scholars.[2]

This from Science Daily:
Homer's Cyclops might be myth, but a disorder that can cause babies to be born with only one eye is very real. Scientists from Cleveland, Ohio, and Paris, France, reached an important milestone in understanding one of the molecular causes of a rare, but serious birth defect, Holoprosencephaly. ...a known mutation of the TG interacting factor (TGIF) gene, called TGIF.P63R, causes Holoprosencephaly, which affects brain and skull formation. In particular, researchers found that this mutation not only does not produce the protein necessary for healthy fetal development, but the mutant protein may actually destroy the small amounts of the normal protein that is needed. ... Holoprosencephaly occurs when the embryonic forebrain fails to divide into the two lobes that make up the cerebral hemispheres. As a result, people with this disorder have a single-lobed brain structure and severe skull and facial defects. In most cases, the disorder is so severe that fetuses die before birth. In relatively "mild" cases, babies may be born with near-normal brain development, but they usually have facial deformities affecting the eyes, nose, and/or upper lip.



For the curious: Could a monkey and a pig mate and have an offspring? No. Except when humans mess with their DNA, animals with different numbers of chromosomes can not produce offspring. Here are some chromosome numbers from wikipedia:
















































































Species#Species#
Common fruit fly8Guinea Pig64
Dove16Garden snail54
Earthworm 36Tibetan fox36
Domestic cat38Domestic pig38
Lab mouse40Lab rat42
Rabbit44Syrian hamster44
Hare46Human46
Gorilla, Orangutan,
Chimpanzee
48Domestic sheep54
Elephant56Cow60
Donkey62Horse64
Dog78Kingfisher132
Goldfish100-104Silkworm56

A tiger has 66 chromosomes. What about a pig and a cat? Both domestic cats and domestic pigs have had their entire genome sequenced.

ANSWER: Chromosome number is not the only reproductive barrier between species. Even if a human could mate with a hare, Bugs Bunny would not result.



When they meet, the chromosomes from one parent need to be similar enough to those from the other parent, so that when their genes combine, they produce something that lives. While the human and the hare each have 23 pairs of chromosomes, there is not enough of a match up.

Review: Chromosomes contain pairs of DNA molecules. Each human egg or sperm contains 2.85 billion DNA base pairs in 23 separate chromosomes. Each human chromosome has from 50 million to 250 million DNA pairs. A "gene" is a group of DNA pairs on a chromosome. Humans may have as few as 20,000 genes.

Here is a picture of human male chromosomes:



I haven't found any photos of hare chromosomes... yet.

Update: July 21, 2009

He is a year older now and still seems to be doing well. The londonpaper had these new photos.  Interesting, isn't it, that a genetic mutation can make a pig face look similar to a monkey face?

Little hint about evolution, isn't it? No, I'm not saying a pig could evolve into a monkey.

Mammals have been around for about 200 million years. (Imagine you live to be 80 years old 2 million 500 thousand times...)  That's a looooooooong time and a lot of mutations.

Wow, that's some pig.

pig-born-with-the-face-of-a-monkey_0

monkey-faced-pig-shocks-the-world_0

85 comments:

SilviusMD said...

That's not a piglet-monkey dna experiment it's probably just a piglet with a neurological-facial malformation called Holoprosencephaly. The cause is thought to be a genetic alteration, in this case probably due to environmental exposure to certain chemicals.

Adam said...

They had to do it with a pig and a monkey. They couldn't do it with a pig and an elephant, because everyone know's the Loverboy song, pig and elephant DNA just won't splice.

Xeno said...

Thanks very much Silvius! Indeed. I just saw a photo of a human baby with the same condition [WARNING: freaky]. Obviously the same thing.

Acontecimentos apocalípticos said...

[...] pig? Nada, Monkey Pig. Clique para ver mais fotos. Leia [...]

Hideous Mutant Pig at imthegenius said...

[...] Piglet with monkey’s face « Xenophilia (True Strange Stuff) [...]

Rachael said...

It looks sad. I hope it is not suffering. :(

David Carvin said...

So you're saying the garden snail and the domestic sheep, both 54, could produce offspring?

Xeno said...

Sneep are quite uncommon...

dogsounds said...

or "walk to work" even. Gah.

dogsounds said...

And we could only cross-breed with rabbits? Wow. Would make the walk to walk shorter :)

Hubbits?
Ramans?

mmm...Ramen...

Sorry :)

caiter said...

oh... this little guy makes me sad. the craziest thing about pigs is supposed to be how they can herd sheep by talking to them or how they make friends with wise little spiders named charlotte.

Kate said...

That thing is so ugly. It's sad. You just want to cuddle it, then throw up. The science side of it is pretty cool, though!

Rue The Day! » Monkey Faced Pig No Longer A Middle School Knickname said...

[...] hideously ugly pig thing reminds me of a real Pigglet from Winnie The Pooh. Link. Close this Window Bookmark and Share This Page Save to Browser Favorites / [...]

sweet bacon said...

poor piglet. he lokos so sad in the 3rd picture. somebody bring him to me so i can cuddle and love him. :(

Fighting For Liberty » I … uhhh … need a vacation. said...

[...] What the hell is that thing? [...]

larry said...

"the sons of Uranus and Gaia, from the dark pit of Tartarus. They provide Zeus’s thunderbolt, Hades’ helmet of invisibility, and Poseidon’s trident, and the gods use these weapons to defeat the Titans. In a famous episode of Homer’s Odyssey, the hero Odysseus encounters the Cyclops Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon and a nereid (Thoosa), who lives with his fellow Cyclopes in a distant country. The connection between the two groups has been debated in antiquity and by modern scholars.[2]"

---------
Doesn't anyone read Freud anymore? The dream symbolism is so obvious here it's almost embarrassing. Even the ancient Greeks understood the sexual implications of dreams better than modern scholars (so-called).

"Cyclops" originated in ancient dreams. It is a penis disguise. What do *caves* represent in dreams? What do *helmets* and *lightning bolts* represent?

Marisa said...

That deformed pig is not in China, it's in Indonesia.
The pig is real though but Orange seemed to have made that story up.

Marisa said...

Correction. The pig in the first picture is indeed from Fengzhang village, China -- as posted in Orange. But one in the other two is from Watuliney village, North Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.

Phyl said...

Man? Bear? Pig?

WOW - Snorting monkey, pooping pig « voice from the pack said...

[...] was bored and was poking about the inter tubes and found this. I don’t know what to say, maybe a biologist could do the business but daaaaamn I [...]

Xeno said...

Marisa,
The more I look at them, the more I see differences.... like the bottom two don't seem to have the same lump on top of the head... but how could these three pics not all be the same pig? If you have evidence to support your claim, please share it. Thanks, Xeno

STREET BONERS and TV CARNAGE » PIG WITH MONKEY’S FACE BORN IN CHINA said...

[...] are cute and monkeys are cute, so I really wanted this thing to be cute. But he’s gross and he foams at the mouth. He kinda looks like those squeeze-y, [...]

justamazed said...

The sad thing is that I heard that pigs have the intellect of a 3 year old child. Pigs have been known to make awesome pets.
Is this animal in pain, is this animal able to survive on its own.
Or is this animal only to be treated like a freak?

inspirmentalist said...

can you say......pokemon?

Alex said...

WTF WTF WTF WTF!!!!!! its scaring the [bleep] outta me! I hope its not in pain... almost as bad as Mung

bandgeek602 said...

Ewww... that's all I can say

www.bandgeek602.wordpress.com

david said...

Now that's a gruesome image to see first thing in the morning while sipping coffee.

Jordan Glossop said...

"Even if a human could mate with a hare, Bugs Bunny would not result."

Whadda ya mean if ?

John said...

If u ask me, I think a man [had sex with] the piglets mom!
Poor piglet! :(
I would like to shoot that man, who's with me?

Ivy said...

You know what this looks like, its eyes look like they are probably blind, but if you look at this mutated pig, it looks like its real snout is on its head, and like it could be folded down onto its face. It may look like a monkey, but its not.

Funny ass pig with monkey face pics - Rap GodFathers Community said...

[...] ass pig with monkey face pics info - http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/200...-monkeys-face/ news thread- Little Pig born with a Monkey Face (pics) [...]

Little Pig born with a Monkey Face (pics) - Page 8 - Rap GodFathers Community said...

[...] But one in the other two is from Watuliney village, North Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. source:Piglet with monkey’s face / Holoprosencephaly / Homer’s Cyclops Xenophilia (True Strange... [...]

Etna said...

Poor little piglets! They make me want to cry. I also hope they aren't suffering, and if they are they should be humanely euthanized.

zoka said...

verry scary photos.

‘Werewolf boy’ begs for cure to rare condition « Xenophilia (True Strange Stuff) said...

[...] 10 Posts Piglet with monkey's face / Holoprosencephaly / Homer's CyclopsRealistic Bigfoot Costumes?Malaysian Fisherman Reels in Shark with 'Webbed Feet'Abigail and Brittany [...]

Did You Know: Monkey Pig Is Just One of the Badass Results of Holoprosencephaly | Synthesis Magazine Blog said...

[...] recent monkey-faced pig born in China, is just one stellar example of the neurological malformation Holoprosencephaly, which causes [...]

justthetruth said...

It looks like Barack Obama to me!

Aulia said...

Xeno,

I cannot say that they are not the same pig, but as far as the location is concerned the third picture proofs it. First of all the skin tone and facial look are of indonesian. Also judging from the cap that he wears it bears the national symbol of indonesia.

As for the piglet, i feel sorry that that little guys has to be a freak of nature.

Pig with monkey face | MashTopic said...

[...] More photos (Xeniphilius) Read the source » Share and Enjoy: [...]

Jorge said...

HOLY FORK ITS MANBEARPIG D:

xenophilius.wordpress.com said...

Здравствуйте!

Необходимо сделать сайт. Форумы, чаты и тому подобное не нужно. Хочу получить качественную вёрстку, именно качественную, а то в дримвивере и сама могу. Дизайн готов, а остальное за вами.

Очень хотелось бы услышать пару дельных советов о том, какой код выбрать, где лучше регить домен и так далее...

бюджет = около 150 - 200 долл.

Do cell phones make two-faced kittens like this one? « Xenophilia (True Strange Stuff) said...

[...] twins.Malaysian Fisherman Reels in Shark with 'Webbed Feet'Tree Man Who Grew Roots may be cured. Piglet with monkey's face / Holoprosencephaly / Homer's CyclopsPhuket deep sea creatures found on the seaside after the tsunami.Of Ligers and Tigons.Today is [...]

Rivkah said...

Poor little thing. I hope they will take good care of it. After all, it is a living creature with feelings. They should ask the vet if it is suffering or if it can live alright. Its eyes don't look too healthy. It looks really sad.

Monkey-faced pig « Below the Muck said...

[...] Monkey-faced pig Bizarre! [...]

chelsey :P said...

omg poor baby pig...i would pay any price to own it...its really adorable.
i wish he wasn't getting all that attention though.People taking his picture and calling him ''mutated'' he probably doesnt like it and thats why he is frowning :/
i thinks this pig is perfect!!!

BaKiNeC said...

Мне вот интересно, а есть кто-то, кто не совсем согласен с автором ? :)

miranda wags said...

i think it is way cute and i would buy it if i had enough money. it is soooooo cute it looks just like a little monster from a cute movie.♥♥♥♥

hoggett said...

that'll do pig... that'll do

Sillybee said...

Wow that is sure is one strange looking piggy, it's head is completely deformed.

Eleazar said...

THAT IS AWSOME DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!! EVEN MY WIERD SISTER AGREEZ
;.)

MARIA said...

oh an yeah i am eleazar's sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MARIA said...

oh piece of @$#$ i am not wierd u wierdo!!! and first of all i think that piggy is cute. man imagine if everything in the world was perfect then what excitment wuld there be.

BaKiNeC said...

Хотя еще до конца непонятно, что там такое происходит, но на 100% могу сказать, что это не в лучшую сторону!

Xeno said...

Comments I can't translate to English with some on line translator somewhere will be deleted as possible spam.

PigmonkeyLover said...

I love Pig monkeies. I found about Pig monkeys when I was looking up stuff on Google and I found PIG MONKEY.It is so cute! All I mostly draw is pig monkeys. I love those things!

Melissa Welther said...

some fucked up shit

Calvin said...

Most deformities caused by tobacco or exposure to toxic tobacco smoke.

Nikki said...

wow thats really crazy

Paul R Wilson said...

Holoprosencephaly will produce this kind of monster -but the brain is simplified . The affliction can be subtle (single upper incisor, intelligent, near normal behaivor) or severe (facial deformity, mentally retarded, epileptic seizures, death in a few years) or lethal (cyclopia, stillborn if mouth is absent, brain just a sack, death comes in a few days...).the worst form of all is total absense of the face &ears joined together. A mutation in a gene that organizes the face is the culprit.

Evolution unfolded.... - Discussion Forums US said...

[...] unfolded.... xenophilius.wordpress.com ^ Curious locals flocked to the home of owner Feng Changlin after news of the piglet spread in [...]

Ecotech said...

The pig must have gotten the H1N1 virus. Strange things happening in this world! :-)

Sponge said...

Some guy must of had smex with the pig and it came out looking like a human/monkey pig O_O

Anomaly Magazine » Article » Monekypig said...

[...] wow… Share and [...]

phreeque said...

A YEAR?! That has got to be a record - I think the longest-lived human cyclops on record survived for three days. However, you clearly have two different pigs pictured here, so there might be some confusion.

Also, any resemblance between this specimen and a monkey is purely coincidental - most cyclopes don't look like monkeys or really any normal creature at all. Most of them have a proboscis growing from the middle of the forehead above the eye socket, which is not a feature of any normal mammal.

Cyclopia can be caused by exposure to natural toxins, not just "modern pollutants". There is a plant called the western false hellborne that causes ewes to have cyclops lambs.

The cyclops of Greek myth might be based on babies with holoprosencephaly, but there's also a theory that ancient Greeks found skulls of elephants and thought they were one-eyed giants - the nasal passage of an elephant looks very much like a huge eye socket.

joshs girl said...

i thought the same exact thing as u ...its kinda cute in a freaky repulsive way.

TheMETALguy said...

Other words shot in the face

George Jefferson said...

ill buy him how much plus postage? I will let him sleep in my bed every night I love him like i loved my last freak animal

car house said...

wow that is so nice. very strange. cool man

emma said...

I think this is actually a human pig hybrid, and that a lonely man dicided to rape a pig.I think that the villiges men should have to take paternity tests to determan who the father is.I have the human pig hybrid as my computer backgrownd. I would love to make a t-shert with a pictur of it on it. I would also like to make water bottles and school supplis with its pictur on it to take to school. I would love to buy it as a pet, but I would brobly take it to school and reles it in my scienc class. That would be so funny.

tyler D said...

stop calling it monkey pig! its humanoid thats what happens when we let scientists fuck about(not phisicaly)! but we have a bunch of nerd ass scientists messing with that massive partical accelarator! who dont have a clue! THE WORLD IS IN TROUBLE!!!

tyler D said...

its humanoid thats what happens when we let scientists fuck about(not phisicaly)! but we have a bunch of nerd ass scientists messing with that massive partical accelarator! who dont have a clue! THE WORLD IS IN TROUBLE!!!

tater said...

Tyler, you should learn some science before you try to criticize. Ranting about something you know nothing about just makes you look stupid.

Lenore said...

In regards to cyclops legends.... Those were started by the people who first saw elephant skulls. An elephant's nasal cavity is one hole between the eyes, unlike the human's which is 2 holes below the eye level. This led to the legends of one-eyed, 2-tusked giants in Africa. So I'd have to disagree that this "cyclops deformity", as I've heard it called, goes that far back. Especially if it's chemical related.

Xeno said...

Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting. Elephant skulls!

cerita nakal said...

thats really strange , i just know that from your blogs.
keep in share

kalavasa said...

poor thing

Joe said...

It is scientifically impossible for a human and a another species to procreate.

Contemporary Paintings said...

Wow that is seriously creepy!

Suliana Suka Tamani said...

wow......it luks scary bt in a way i fil sori 4 d@ pig or w@e4 u wana name it...............bt hey i wud luv 2 pet it............lol

Revoltin1 said...

Looks like some of the DU babies I have seen....(depleted uranium) The U.S. has weaponized it and is selling it all over the world.

tracy glover said...

when i was 19 i found out i was pregnant with my 2nd child i thought everything was ok everything went good til i went into labor he came so fast i had him in my front yard in a mud puddle my mom delivered him his breathing wasnt good so he was shipped to a childrens hospital 4 days later i was told he had holoprosencaphly and it was bad to plan his funreal he is 13 years old now he cant walk or talk crawl or hold his body weight i dont know why ohow this happened but i love my angel god gave tme

Dipper said...

Well, actually it wasn't even elephants which caused the rumor. It were mammoths. Still, you're right. Don't think that cyclops really inhabited this world.

thatthinglooksfuckingweird said...

that is not normal its fucking ugly

Liz said...

sorry but i personally think this is as sick and mental solution to take care of low minds ,science lol ,isn't it alwys science ,look in the mirror ,you PIG MONKEIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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