10/8: 25-toed cat
 

http://cellar.org/pictures/25toedcat.jpg

Had enough images of cats yet? Not quite. Here's a cat with 25 toes: 6 on each paw except one of the front ones which has 7. The normal number would be 16, so this cat's now listed in the Guinness Book. It looks none too happy about it. This is the last cat image in the queue, I promise.

The cat's name is "Twinkle Toes" - obvious, I guess.

Makes you wonder why. I mean did the cat's parents walk on grass sprayed with DDT or something? Maybe a growth stimulator.

Reminds me of when my first child was born, the nurse in the delivery room told us to count the toes and fingers. "Why?" I asked, "Can we send him back if the number is wrong or do we get a discount on our hospital bill?":D

Re: 10/8: 25-toed cat
 

BUT HE ONLY HAS TWO FEET!!!

AHHHHHH!!!!!!
;)

Polydactal cats aren't that rare, but most are 6 toes on one or 2 feet. It's a common genetic mutation. Take a look at

http://www.etexweb.com/personal/speir/kats/kats.htm

(No releation to site except I found them on a search engine)

extra toes
 

I wonder if this cat is royally screwed by it's lot in life or if it will live normally (aside from everyone and his brother wanting to see it)?

It could be some kind of advantage, for instance the cat wouldn't sink in snow or mud as easily as normal cat, and it might be able to climb better.

Then again it might be very awkward for the cat to just try to walk normally.

Who knows.

Genetic diversity at work, ladies and gents. Without the world's freak's, we wouldn't be adaptable and would be naturally selected out of the gene pool. So, next time you see a freak/reject, thank him/her for their contribution to society. :]

-- juju

I wonder... if you took it to be de-clawed, would the vet charge you extra?

That only works if they have kids...
on a very politically incorrect lien you couldsay along the same thread to abuse cripples for having kids and degrading our gene pool, its all the smae thing. Kind of freaks that would be useful....radiation resistant? able to eat at a superund site?

<br>Genetic diversity in any form is always good, because you never know how your environment is going to change in the future. What might seem useless now could turn out useful later. Sure, 99% of genetic mutations are probably useless and those won't be propagated. But that extra percent that stick around will help us evolve (over a very long period of time, of course). I was mostly kidding when I used the word 'freaks'. :] I'm just saying that the occurances of what most people call 'freaks'...those occurances are what keep us adaptable in the face of a constantly changing environment.
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Take bacteria, for example. Say you get sick and take antibiotics. If you only kill 99% of the little buggers, the other 1% will replicate and within 3 days and create 3 times as many germs as were there originally, and all of them will be immune to the antibiotics. It's all evolution, baby. :]
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Very well said =)

Yea were seeing the wonderful effects of bombarding germs with the same antibiotics at the slightest sniffle right now =)