Another Animal Wonder: Calf born with six legs in Switzerland

Future: The farmer said that a curve in her spine means Lilli may never become a normal milk cow

Being born with two extra legs may not the best start in life for a cow, but Lilii, the six-legged calf, refuses to be cowed into hiding away because of her disability.

The plucky seven-week-old has defied the odds by thriving despite a vet's prediction at birth that it wouldn't survive.

She has now gone on to become a minor celebrity after Swiss media splashed with images of the calf frolicking across a sunny field.

Fighting fit: Lilli, has defied the odds by thriving despite a vet's prediction at birth that she wouldn't survive

 Farmer Andreas Knutti said he couldn't bring himself to euthanize the animal because she was 'so full of life'

Farmer Andreas Knutti from Weissenburg, which 19 miles (30 kilometres) south of the capital Bern, says he couldn't bring himself to euthanize the animal because she was 'so full of life.'

He told Swiss daily Blick Thursday that a curve in her spine means Lilli may never become a normal milk cow.

But Knutti says if the calf stays healthy she'll still be allowed to join the others when they head for their Alpine pastures this summer.

Mutations are not as rare as thought and a three-legged cat and two-headed lamb were born in Georgia earlier this year.

In January, a  piebald lamb, which has four legs at the front and two hind legs, was born in Velistsikhe, Georgia.

Unlike Lilli, it appears to have at least partial control of every limb on its body.

According to vet Auto Zardiashvili, the mutation may be due to issues at conception.

'Most probably there were twins, but then the embryos were united, and we've got a strange lamb,' Mr Zardiashvili said.

In 2006, a lamb with six legs, four at the front and two at the back, was born on a farm in Belgium.

And in August 2010, a two-legged lamb was born in China.

The lamb was to be killed but it is reported that when the farmer saw the lamb's determination to live, she dropped the idea and kept him as a pet.

Survival: It seems Lilli's zest for life saved her from certain death - in August 2010, a two-legged lamb was born in China. The lamb was to be killed but it is reported that when the farmer saw the lamb's determination to live, she kept him as a pet