Some animals are born with the rare condition of only having one eye. The birth with a single eye condition is often associated with the legend of the cyclops in Greek mythology and the dajjal in Islamic eschatology which is said to appear before the apocalypse.
From the point of view of science, animals with this birth condition are called cyclopia, which is a rare congenital disorder characterized by failure at the front of the brain to divide the eye orbit into two cavities. It occurs in a spectrum of brain and facial defects known as holoprosencephaly.
Most cases of cyclopia occur in mammals such as goats and cats. Animals born with this rare condition have very little life expectancy. In severe cases, this condition can cause a miscarriage or even death within hours of being born.
Here are some one-eyed animals or cyclopia, we have summarized them from various sources:
Sharks in the Moluccas
In October 2020, a startling discovery was made off the coast of Maluku, Eastern Indonesia. Fishermen found a one-eyed shark.
This shark is still an unborn fetus that was found inside a mother shark that was found dead after being trapped in a fishing net. When the mother shark's stomach was cut open to remove the contents of her stomach, the fishermen were surprised to find a baby shark with an unusual shape in the stomach.
It has one large eye in the middle of its forehead, and its body color is milky white. Meanwhile, the typical shark fins on its body are fully formed.
"We found three babies in the belly of the mother shark, but one of them had a strange shape, only one eye. The color was also strange like milk," said one of the fishermen, as quoted by The Sun.
Scapegoat in India
A baby goat in India was born with only one eye and no nostrils. Not only that, the baby goat's face is black, has no eyelashes, and has no eyelids.
Another thing that distinguishes the cyclopia goat from goats in general is that the lower and upper jaws are asymmetrical with the upper jaw being shorter, and the tongue protruding. This cyclopia goat shocked local residents and began to be worshiped even by newcomers.
Bengal cat in England
A purebred Bengal kitten was born with a single eye condition without a nose but has a mouth. The cat was born in a vet's operating room in England in 2012 after its mother had a difficult delivery.
This cat shocked everyone in the room when they realized he was born with a deformity. Tragically the poor cat finally died after surviving for 3.5 hours.