Meet the 'Cyclops' Goat With 1 Eye, 1 Ear and a Miraculous Survival Story

There's a "cyclops" goat who was born on May 10 in Assam, India with a great big eye on the center of its face. The newborn kid also has a single ear and a tragically short expected lifespan. Fortunately, this particular goat seems to be beating the odds.

It's a rare condition called cyclopia, one that most afflicted goats - or animals, for that matter -- do not often survive, according to a report from National Geographic. Cyclopia is when the brain was unable to develop into two separate hemispheres, resulting in a skull with a single eye socket.

There are several deformities that arise from cyclopia. Aside from the single eye in the middle of the goat's face, it also only has one ear, a shortened jaw, small lips and an undeveloped nose. The newborn doesn't have eyelids or eyelashes, plus it has several missing teeth.

Despite the challenges, the cyclops goat seems to be pulling through. Few infants with cyclopia survive more than a few days and local veterinarians predicted the same for this one, but it has lived for over a week so far.

Hailed as the "miracle" goat, the one-eyed kid has attracted visitors every day. People from surrounding villages drop by to get a glimpse of the rare animal that's being called a lucky goat.

"It's like a miracle and people have been coming to our place to see this baby goat," owner Mukhuri Das told Barcroft TV, saying that he believed the cyclops kid is bringing luck to their household. "It might be something from God that the baby goat was born in our house."

While unusual, this is not the first time a cyclops animal has been born. A fetal one-eyed dusky shark - an albino one, at that - has even been discovered back in 2011, although it was sliced from the belly of its mother and unlikely to have survived outside the womb.