Two-Faced Cat Goes Viral (Video)

[Jazzy]

A two-faced cat is the latest critter to take over the internet.



Venus the cat's unusual visage probably has some people likening her to the Batman baddie Two-Face, but she's way too cute and cuddly to be compared to a creepy villain—the only thing she'll steal is your heart.



Her face is half black and half ginger, and the colors are split straight down the middle. But what makes her really striking is that she has one blue eye and one green eye. This makes it look like she's comprised of two completely different cats smashed together, and her photos have left some internet users skeptical.



However, she recently made an appearance on TODAY to prove that she's not the product of Photoshop, and there's also some science behind the two-faced cat's appearance.



Venus might be a chimera cat, meaning that she is composed of two populations of genetically distinct cells that originated from different zygotes. Venus is a lot luckier than Janus cats—these felines are actually born with extra faces complete with noses, eyes, and mouths. They usually don't live for more than a few days. However, Guinness World record holder Frank and Louie is an exception.



Venus' unusual appearance probably prolonged her life. She was a feral cat living on a farm when her new owner Christina saw her and decided that she had to have her. The farmer let Christina take Venus home, and she'll probably live a few more extra years than she would have roaming around outside—house cats can live almost twice as long as feral cats. So hopefully Venus likes her new home.



If she gets bored, perhaps the chimera cat could score a few modeling gigs—Lady Gaga might consider casting her in her next music video, and she'd look amazing on the catwalk.



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k38bfE3ubrs [/media]



I saw Venus on the Today show and can assure you she's real.

 

[Jazzy]

^ I agree with you Fires.

 

[Evil Eye]

Nice glare

Interesting, more chimerae.