Rare Cat Born With Four Ears: Fact Check

Story:

Meet Yoda, a Rare Cat Born With Four Ears

Fact Check:

An interesting story in circulation online purports to show a rare Cat born with Four Ears. The Cat allegedly named Yoda appears like the Talking Tom App character. The feline also appeared freaky to some viewers. Yes, the Cat was really born with four ears, but as such the extra two are not functional ears.

Yoda, the Rare Cat Born with Four Ears
Yoda with his Owner
Star Wars character Yoda

Cat with Four Ears, Rare

As you can see in other pictures, the black cat has two extra “flaps” behind his normal ears, which gives the appearance that it has four ears. Chicago couple Valerie and Ted Rock adopted the frisky feline back in 2006 and decided to name him Yoda after the famous Star Wars character. They named the rare cat Yoda after hearing the Star Wars character was based on George Lucas’s cat. Because of the rare appearance, the owners keep Yoda indoors to prevent him getting catnapped. The cat also has a chip installed in case he gets lost.

An article on The Telegraph website telegraph.co.uk states the two extra flaps behind the normal ears of the cat are not attached to the base of its skull and are not thought to help him in hearing. They are believed to be the result of a genetic mutation. In the video above, Yoda’s vet explains he has a very rare and unique condition because his ears have split while in the uterus. It resulted in two ear flaps instead of one.

Similar Cases

Although rare, Yoda is not the first multi-eared cat. In 2016, Batman, a unique feline with four ears appeared for adoption in Pennsylvania. Shown below in the video is a news report on it. In 2010, a 3-month-old kitten in Russia, Luntik had small pair of vestigial ears slightly in front of the main ones. They however did not contain any ear canals or anything else to make them functional.

Batman, feline with four ears
Luntik Cat with small pair of vestigial ears

For your information, such genetic mutation dates back to decades and need not result in simple little extra flaps. In some cases, it can lead to potentially damaging extra ears which need surgery.