He’s pretty light on his feet – all six of them.
A mountain gazelle with two extra legs sticking out of its back has been spotted in Israel – and experts say that despite its physical problems, it is “healthy” and “thriving”.
The six-legged gazelle was spotted in late March by reservist Nir Leichter while stopping for coffee in the Nahal HaBoshor nature reserve in the western Negav, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Leichter sent a photo of the gazelle to the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, which attributed the strange condition to a rare genetic disorder known as polymelia, or organ overgrowth.
The gazelle is the first known example of this hereditary disease – which mainly affects livestock, birds and reptiles – in a mountain gazelle in the Middle East, SPNI ecologist Amir Balaban told CBS News.
The six-legged gazelle survived a complex birth and battled predators in the wild to become a successful adult, Balaban noted.
“Contrary to expectations, the gazelle is healthy, strong and has three female gazelles and a fawn from the previous fall. It has been seen harboring females in the fields and the extra legs on its back pose no challenge to it,” he noted.
Mountain gazelles are a protected species in Israel, where there are only about 5,000 left in the wild, the media outlet notes.
The survival of the six-legged gazelle is all the more impressive given that its territory, in the western Negev, is only a few kilometers from the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The area is “one of the most important strongholds for the Israeli gazelle in the western Negev, especially during the recent war,” according to the SPNI.
Besides Israel, mountain gazelles can also be seen in Turkey, parts of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.
New York Post
