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Inherited traits are passed down through an animal's genetic code which is found in the animal's DNA—a long molecule that is present in every cell in the body. The DNA contains thousands of genes. A gene is a specific DNA sequence that leads to the expression of an inherited characteristic. For example, there are genes that determine eye color, coat color, and other body characteristics.
And while we're used to, for example, cats with 18 toes and puppies with 2 ears, sometimes an animal's genes decide to play a trick on us, and it comes to this world with more (or less!) of these features. Continue scrolling and take a look at this Bored Panda list, compiled to show you what genetic surprises some of our beloved creatures possess!
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#1
Frankie Was Born With Four Ears And An Eye Deformity But He’s Still Purrfect
One of the most frequent congenital physical anomalies we see in this list is polydactylism, which causes animals to be born with more than the usual number of toes on one or more of their paws.
Interestingly, the condition seems to be especially common in cats along the East Coast of North America (in the United States and Canada and in South West England, Wales, and Kingston-upon-Hull.
Polydactyl cats have been extremely popular as ship's cats as well. Even though there is some controversy over the question of whether the most common variant of the trait originated as a mutation in New England or was brought there from Britain, there seems to be agreement that it spread widely as a result of cats carried on ships originating in Boston, Massachusetts, and the prevalence of polydactyly among the cat population of various ports correlates with the dates when they first established trade with Boston.
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#2
Cat Named Yoda Was Born With An Extra Set Of Ears
Sailors have been known to value polydactyl cats especially for their extraordinary climbing and hunting abilities as an aid in controlling shipboard rodents. Some even thought they bring good luck at sea. The rarity of polydactyl cats in Europe might be explained by the fact that they were hunted and killed due to superstitions about witchcraft.
The legendary Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway was an aficionado of polydactyl cats too. His love for these animals began after one ship captain gave him a six-toed cat he named Snow White.
Upon Hemingway's death in 1961, his former home in Key West, Florida became a museum and a home for his cats, and at one point it housed approximately fifty descendants of his cats (about half of which were polydactyl). Because of his immense love for these animals, polydactyl cats are sometimes referred to as "Hemingway cats".
"The things that make me different are the things that make me," one very special animal said. And the animals in these pics are very special too.
#3
Ren Is A Polydactyl With 6 Toes On Each Foot
#4
I Adopted A Stray Dog With 2 Mouths, One Where The Ear Should Be
Toad is about 6 years old, she found her way to the shelter that I worked at several years ago. The whole staff was kind of in shock at her appearance. She was also highly aggressive when she came in. A shelter officer muzzled her and carried her to the vet clinic and while she was there being examined, it sounds goofy but literally, we made eye contact and she immediately relaxed.
That day I took her into my office to evaluate her and she immediately crawled into my lap. This big scary, insane-looking dog, just climbed into my lap and rested her head on my shoulder. I adopted her and we have been inseparable ever since.
#5
My Sister Found This Adorable Guy With Extra Toes
#6
This Is Skadi, The Norwegian Lundehund Puppy
This is one of the oldest breeds in the world and is recovering from near-extinction - in 1963, only 6 remained. Now there are 1600. They are naturally polydactyl, can close their ears to water, and bend their heads back 180 degrees.
#7
This Unicorn Puppy Named Narwhal Was Found Abandoned With An Extra Tail On His Forehead
#8
Too Many Peets
Martine Remmelzwaal 3 years ago
Omg those feet! I can't help but wonder if it is a case of over (in?) Breeding. I could be wrong but as far as I know those round curling backwards ears are not natural (unlike the no tail) and a trait specifically bred for.
#9
Polydactyl Maine Coon
#10
Sansa Is A Special Needs Rescue Princess With Feline Hyperesthesia, Different Colored Eyes & More Toes Than You
#11
A Cat With An Opposable Thumb. I For One Welcome Our New Cat Overlords
Martine Remmelzwaal 3 years ago
Now they can finally tell us if we (their servants) are doing a good job!
#12
Met This Cat Today With Two Tails
#13
My Cat Is Polydactyl And Has 26 Toes. So I Named Him Toes
#14
Meet Phoebe, The Polydactyl Highland Lynx Complete With Curled Ears And A Bobtail
Dorothy Parker 3 years ago
The paws and ears are what's supposed to be noteworthy, but that face...
#15
Doubled Fangs Of a kitten
#16
Amelia And Her Two Faced Cat
#17
Got My Cat Wholesale And He Came With 75% Extra Beans
Martine Remmelzwaal 3 years ago
Can he like fold them inward like we do with our thumb? So fold his paw around something and grasp it?
#18
This My Nugget At 2 Months Old And 1 Year Old. She's My Stunted Growth, Cross Eyed, Head Tilted, Polydactyl, Special Kitty
Martine Remmelzwaal 3 years ago
Sweet expression :) kind hearted intelligent introvert. (Could be totally missing the mark but that is how she looks in the pic atleast)
#19
Say Hi To Our New Kitten Maximillion! He's A Polydactyl Siamese
#20
The Cat At Our Warehouse Gave Birth To A Kitten Who Has An Extra Tiny Paw That Functions As A Thumb
Charlotte 3 years ago
When you say it "functions as a thumb" what exactly are we talking about here? Can the kitten pick things up with one paw? Hold a pen? Hitch a lift? How is it with child-proof safety caps? To what extent do we need to start worrying about highly dexterous cats taking over the world?
#21
Sleepy Polydactyl Kitten With An Extra 6 Toes
Martine Remmelzwaal 3 years ago
Omg almost doesn't look real. Like bear feet or actually those slippers for warm feet you can get in weird designs.
#22
Polydactyl Peek-A-Boo
#23
This Kitten With 7 Beans!
#24
Here Is My Rescue Baby
#25
I Drove Over An Hour One Way To Pick Up My Purrito With Extra Beans From A Shelter In The Middle Of Nowhere. Meet Zula
#26
Joey
#27
My Polydactyl Kitty Stella
#28
Polydactyl Kitten In Clinic Today
#29
My Friend's Polydactyl Half-Lynx Kitten. Her Name Is Nimh
Lucky.Lady 3 years ago
If i wanted more cats then i would adopt one, all my other 4 cats come to me at their own...
#30
Our Little Ginger Polydactyl Kitten
We rescued him and his calico sister from under a neighbour's deck when they were ~2.5 weeks old. We had to bottle feed them at first, and now they're eating machines. And super playful and healthy!
Martine Remmelzwaal 3 years ago
Haha he still has to learn how big his feet are, he is standing on his own paw
#31
At Work Today We Literally Had A Mutant Cat Come Through... Extra Canine Tooth, Strongly Rooted
Martine Remmelzwaal 3 years ago
Kind of like a cyclops but different. Dentops? Or unident :) Is his nose unusual as well or is it the picture quality?
#32
Leg Broken In 2 Places But Still Got Sexy Legs And Thumbs
#33
Found A Kitty With Extra Beans At The Lake. Meet Pawla Abdul
#34
My Kitten Showing Off Her Polydactyl Toe Beans
#35
Friend's Cat Has Black Chin, So It Always Looks Surprised. It's Also A Polydactyl And Had Thumbs
#36
My New Love! She's A Polydactyl She Has 6 Toes On Each Foot! Any Names?
#38
This Is Migi, Our Polydactyl 6-Year-Old Cat
Adopted another older, shy girl from the shelter. When we met her, she looked sad, wasn’t food motivated and poor girl still needs some dental work done.
#39
Skippy’s Toes. He Was A Kitten I Fostered Last Year Who Had Radial Hypoplasia And A Lot Of Toes
Martine Remmelzwaal 3 years ago
Imagine seeing these paw prints in the snow and go like huh uhh what?? Wait....
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Maria Rodriguez 3 years ago
Polydactyly though very cute is not a blessing but a curse to many many cats. See there is a huge problem of those little toes between the longer Xtra toes and often that nail is forgotten and it can curl under the foot and go through the pad. It causes extreme pain and infections. It is very important to clip their nails properly and if it becomes a problem have your vet declaw that one toe causing the issue. Remember folks there are feral cats out there suffering from such condition. Please spay and neuter your pets.
Barbara Vandewalle 3 years ago
When the extra toes are at different angles from the foot, can they be removed? I can understand when the extra toes line up with the standard toes to leave them alone.
Load More Replies...
Sarah Welton 3 years ago
133 unique pets who pretty much all have the same unique feature......
No you didn't 3 years ago
My takeaway from this list is that it seems way more common than I would have thought for cats to have extra toes.
Jaenette S 3 years ago
Polydactyl in cats is common. It's a natural random mutation that happens in all species. However, they are more common in cats. The reason for this was that long time ago, it was believed that it was good luck to have a polydactyl cat onboard a ship. This rumour is likely to be due to the fact that more often than not, this random mutation have an advantage for the cat in catching a prey. Some polydactyl cats can catch a mouse with just one paw as the extra digit can act as a thumb! When the ship docked in the harbour the polydactyl cat had its wicked ways with the local moggies before boarding and heading off to a new location. This allowed the gene to spread within the cat community. However, it is one more reason why it's common in cat.See next post
DaVo 3 years ago
Isn't it GREAT how we inbreed animals so much that they grow extra toes? [/sarcasm]
Charlotte A. 3 years ago
I was curious so I googled ,and apparently polydactyly is caused by a dominant gene so... nothing to do with inbreeding. Also, historically, they were apparently appreciated by sailors, so they're most common in areas of the US and some UK areas, where there was trade by ships.
Load More Replies...
doggo-is-fren 3 years ago
I feel like at least some of these have to be a quality of life issue... Spay and neuter
Terd Fergison 3 years ago (edited)
This is a sad post. A lot of these mutations are due to humans specifically choosing to breed these deformities (often times through inbreeding [incest]). Imagine aliens coming to earth and falling in love with the look of flipper appendage humans and forcing humans to inbreed. It's not cool and it's not cute.
shado 3 years ago
you might want to do a little more research - already way to many mis-informed people spouting their version of 'facts' - and it keeps you from looking like just another mis-informed person on social media platforms
Load More Replies...
Jaenette S 3 years ago
Part 2: Ernest Hemingway loved this unique feature in polydactyl cats and brought attention to this unique cuties. He brought so much attention to Polydactyl cats they are often called Hemingway cats. Hope you found it useful :)
Claire the Bear 3 years ago
I have a polydactyl siamese cat! She was the only one of her litter to have extra toes, and she was rescued from the wild (her family was a stray).
Laila Hernandez 3 years ago
Almost all of them were just extra toes, but the two faces one was pretty lit
sizzle like a sausage 3 years ago
I've got a precious baby of my own! She was born with an extra thumb with 2 nails in it which is why she was declawed. All these pets were super cute too!
columbokateUK 3 years ago
Why is this do common in cats? Are we witnessing evolution or just too much in breeding ?
kath morgan 3 years ago
It’s inbreeding. My SIL has two of these highlander cats, and they all have the polydactyl mutation because the gene pool is too small. None of the contributing breeds “naturally” has it.
Load More Replies...
SirPatTheCat 3 years ago
This list is starting to make me think polydacytl cats, while still cute...aren't so unique...
Mishka Katira 3 years ago
SO many kittehs on this list. The ones with dogs were really unique.
lil_gremlin 3 years ago
the first 1000000000000 polydactyl cats got annoying. adorable but annoying
Dorothy Cloud 3 years ago
I'm glad they all have someone to love them, but I hope they aren't allowed to breed. I guess that's what has caused those problems to begin with.
Dorothy Cloud 3 years ago
I'm so glad they all have someone to love them. But, I hope they are not allowed to breed. I think that must be what starts all those problems.
Micah Pettit 3 years ago
All these extra toes make me miss my polydactyl lap buddy Pollywog. :(
mbluetyphoon 3 years ago
I actually visited the Ernest Hemingway house out in the Florida Keys. There are a ton of polydactyl cats living there, all descendants of that first cat he owned, Snow White. They are legally living national treasures being associated with Ernest Hemingway/Snow White. They have a staff that cares for them, and a vet visits all of them for care weekly.
Bridgette Helms 3 years ago
If there are so many of one thing, doesn't seem that unique to me. Like the dog pics though.
Maria Rodriguez 3 years ago
Polydactyly though very cute is not a blessing but a curse to many many cats. See there is a huge problem of those little toes between the longer Xtra toes and often that nail is forgotten and it can curl under the foot and go through the pad. It causes extreme pain and infections. It is very important to clip their nails properly and if it becomes a problem have your vet declaw that one toe causing the issue. Remember folks there are feral cats out there suffering from such condition. Please spay and neuter your pets.
Barbara Vandewalle 3 years ago
When the extra toes are at different angles from the foot, can they be removed? I can understand when the extra toes line up with the standard toes to leave them alone.
Load More Replies... Sarah Welton 3 years ago
133 unique pets who pretty much all have the same unique feature......
No you didn't 3 years ago
My takeaway from this list is that it seems way more common than I would have thought for cats to have extra toes.
Jaenette S 3 years ago
Polydactyl in cats is common. It's a natural random mutation that happens in all species. However, they are more common in cats. The reason for this was that long time ago, it was believed that it was good luck to have a polydactyl cat onboard a ship. This rumour is likely to be due to the fact that more often than not, this random mutation have an advantage for the cat in catching a prey. Some polydactyl cats can catch a mouse with just one paw as the extra digit can act as a thumb! When the ship docked in the harbour the polydactyl cat had its wicked ways with the local moggies before boarding and heading off to a new location. This allowed the gene to spread within the cat community. However, it is one more reason why it's common in cat.See next post
DaVo 3 years ago
Isn't it GREAT how we inbreed animals so much that they grow extra toes? [/sarcasm]
Charlotte A. 3 years ago
I was curious so I googled ,and apparently polydactyly is caused by a dominant gene so... nothing to do with inbreeding. Also, historically, they were apparently appreciated by sailors, so they're most common in areas of the US and some UK areas, where there was trade by ships.
Load More Replies... doggo-is-fren 3 years ago
I feel like at least some of these have to be a quality of life issue... Spay and neuter
Terd Fergison 3 years ago (edited)
This is a sad post. A lot of these mutations are due to humans specifically choosing to breed these deformities (often times through inbreeding [incest]). Imagine aliens coming to earth and falling in love with the look of flipper appendage humans and forcing humans to inbreed. It's not cool and it's not cute.
shado 3 years ago
you might want to do a little more research - already way to many mis-informed people spouting their version of 'facts' - and it keeps you from looking like just another mis-informed person on social media platforms
Load More Replies... Jaenette S 3 years ago
Part 2: Ernest Hemingway loved this unique feature in polydactyl cats and brought attention to this unique cuties. He brought so much attention to Polydactyl cats they are often called Hemingway cats. Hope you found it useful :)
Claire the Bear 3 years ago
I have a polydactyl siamese cat! She was the only one of her litter to have extra toes, and she was rescued from the wild (her family was a stray).
Laila Hernandez 3 years ago
Almost all of them were just extra toes, but the two faces one was pretty lit
sizzle like a sausage 3 years ago
I've got a precious baby of my own! She was born with an extra thumb with 2 nails in it which is why she was declawed. All these pets were super cute too!
columbokateUK 3 years ago
Why is this do common in cats? Are we witnessing evolution or just too much in breeding ?
kath morgan 3 years ago
It’s inbreeding. My SIL has two of these highlander cats, and they all have the polydactyl mutation because the gene pool is too small. None of the contributing breeds “naturally” has it.
Load More Replies... SirPatTheCat 3 years ago
This list is starting to make me think polydacytl cats, while still cute...aren't so unique...
Mishka Katira 3 years ago
SO many kittehs on this list. The ones with dogs were really unique.
lil_gremlin 3 years ago
the first 1000000000000 polydactyl cats got annoying. adorable but annoying
Dorothy Cloud 3 years ago
I'm glad they all have someone to love them, but I hope they aren't allowed to breed. I guess that's what has caused those problems to begin with.
Dorothy Cloud 3 years ago
I'm so glad they all have someone to love them. But, I hope they are not allowed to breed. I think that must be what starts all those problems.
Micah Pettit 3 years ago
All these extra toes make me miss my polydactyl lap buddy Pollywog. :(
mbluetyphoon 3 years ago
I actually visited the Ernest Hemingway house out in the Florida Keys. There are a ton of polydactyl cats living there, all descendants of that first cat he owned, Snow White. They are legally living national treasures being associated with Ernest Hemingway/Snow White. They have a staff that cares for them, and a vet visits all of them for care weekly.
Bridgette Helms 3 years ago
If there are so many of one thing, doesn't seem that unique to me. Like the dog pics though.
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