Ananova:

A Chinese man cracked open an egg to make his supper - and found a four-legged chick inside.

Mr Cao, of Changchun, said he bought dozens of eggs four months ago, and cracked one to make a meal.

He says he was shocked to find a chick alive inside it - and even more surprised when he noticed the extra legs.

"People said it wouldn't survive, but I kept it out of pity and it magically grew up healthy," he told the People's Daily.

"Maybe it's the summer temperature that enabled it to hatch."

Cao says the chicken was bullied by his other chickens at first: "It was very tame and seldom fought back," he says.

But it grew faster than its rivals and has now turned the tables: "Other chickens now act very timid around it, and the neighbours are calling it the four-legged king," Cao added.

Professor Gao Wei, at the Life Sciences Department at the Northeastern Normal University, said it was very rare for such a chicken to survive and grow up healthy.