Do cell phones make two-faced kittens like this one?

A two-headed kitten born yesterday has left vets baffled.

The kitten's mother was taken to the Swan Veterinary Clinic in Perth after suffering complications while in labour.

Community Newspapers photographer Matthew Poon happened to be at the vet's for an unrelated visit and snapped the amazing images of the kitten.

There were three kittens in the litter, but only one has the unique deformity.

The kitten eats out of just one mouth because of a cleft palate, but both mouths meow simultaneously.

Louisa Burgess, a veterinary nurse who helped deliver the kitten, told InMyCommunity.com.au that she had never seen such an unusual animal in her 12-year career.

"I have seen cats with two tails and extra legs, but not this,” she said.

Ms Burgess said the cat appeared healthy, but it would be closely monitored over the next few days.

"It has a full tummy and it survived the night so that is a good sign,” she said. "It seems content, it meows and purrs.

"This is the result of a congenital deformity. Something has gone wrong in the early embryonic development.”  - theage

You may have seen another two faced kitten here. This type of birth defect where twins only partially separate can be seen in humans too: The Hensel twins, for example.

Another interesting birth defect (in individuals, not twins) is holoprosencephaly which caused the piglet with the monkey face and the one eye'd kitten.

In both cases, a genetic error happens during development which may be due to environmental damage to the DNA or RNA in the mother and father.

... maternally derived mRNAs ... govern embryogenesis through cleavage to the blastula stage. Following the formation of the blastula, zygotic gene transcription is activated, which carries the embryo through the rest of embryogenesis. - link

One possible generally unrecognized cause of genetic damage is microwave/radio frequency radiation according to a researcher at the Department of Human Genetics, Guru Nanak Dev University in India.

BACKGROUND: The impact of microwave (MW)/radio frequency radiation (RFR) on important biological parameters is probably more than a simply thermal one. Exposure to radio frequency (RF) signals generated by the use of cellular telephones have increased dramatically and reported to affect physiological, neurological, cognitive and behavioural changes and to induce, initiate and promote carcinogenesis. Genotoxicity of RFR has also been reported in various test systems after in vitro and/or in vivo exposure but none in mobile phone users. AIMS: In the present study, DNA and chromosomal damage investigations were carried out on the peripheral blood lymphocytes of individuals using mobile phones, being exposed to MW frequency ranging from 800 to 2000 MHz. METHODS: DNA damage was assessed using the single cell gel electrophoresis assay and aneugenic and clastogenic damage by the in vivo capillary blood micronucleus test (MNT) in a total of 24 mobile phone users. RESULTS: Mean comet tail length (26.76 ± 0.054 mm; 39.75% of cells damaged) in mobile phone users was highly significant from that in the control group. The in vivo capillary blood MNT also revealed highly significant (0.25) frequency of micronucleated (MNd) cells. CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight a correlation between mobile phone use (exposure to RFR) and genetic damage and require interim public health actions in the wake of widespread use of mobile telephony.