Shock as cow gives birth to calf with two heads in Homabay

By Kevine Omollo

Kisumu, Kenya: Residents of Kanyaluo Village in Kamenya, Homabay County are in shock after a cow gave birth to a calf with two heads.

The cow belonging to Charles Nyakiti delivered safely on Wednesday evening, having labored normally but the image of the calf has held villagers tight-lipped.

The cow named Laura has now become a temporary attraction in the village as a mixture of fear and uncertainty engulf the home of Nyakiti with people from neighbouring villages streaming in to have a glimpse of what had happened.

The female calf is unable to stand on its feet due to its heavy head. All its four limbs resemble hind limbs and are weak.

This is the second time in about 45 years that such an incident has occurred in the area.

According to Nyakiti, the previous incident which occurred before he was born involved a sheep which gave birth to a lamb with two heads.

“We were just told of the previous story by my grandfather but it is my first time to witness such an incident. They said they killed the lamb and sold the sheep,” said Nyakiti.

Even though Nyakiti disputes any form of witchcraft on his cow, he feels insecure living with the creature in his homestead given its rare nature.

The calf’s two identical heads are fully developed and have all the organs of a normal head; in total the calf has four eyes, four ears, four nostrils and two mouths.

Both the calf’s heads are attached at their back facing the opposite direction and seem to be coordinated by a similar nervous system as any action on one of the heads simultaneously appear on the other head.

When an eye on one side of the head blinks, a corresponding eye on the other head also blinks and when one mouth suckles Laura’s teats, the other side moves as if it is suckling.

Laura leaks her daughter gently seemingly unaware of the young one’s abnormalities.

Nyakiti has to seek the help of neighbours to help him lay down Laura so that the calf can reach the teats.

According to Nyakiti, Laura has had difficulties conceiving and it had to undergo three natural inseminations before.

“I am the one who grazes Laura and the other three cattle and in two occasions she appeared to be on heat and when we took her to a nearby bull the signs of heat disappeared and we thought she had conceived. But it never was. The signs appeared about five months later and we took her to the bull again,” said Nyakiti.

Nyakiti however did not seek the help of a veterinary doctor and the third insemination saw Laura conceive.

All was normal during the pregnancy and she delivered on Wednesday but fear has gripped Nyakiti’s family as many think this is a sign of bad omen.

“We are afraid and I just want the veterinary people to come and take the calf and examine it so that we can know what happened because we can’t keep it and we don’t know if the incident will occur again,” said Nyakiti.

[email protected]