A lamb born with two heads is healthy and thriving - something its owners were not expecting when it was born four days ago.
The animal, dubbed Two Face, was born late last week at the Slope Point Backpackers accommodation in Invercargill.
Owners Andrew Wilson and Justine Parker said its mother gave birth to it alone.
"The only reason I went over is because the lamb actually fell in the creek. I rescued it and went to put it back with its mother," Ms Parker said.
"I thought: 'Oh, the back of his head looks a bit strange'. And I turned it round and wow. I just thought: 'Heck, what's this'?"
Two Face has double of everything and has four eyes; two of which appear to have merged in the middle and do not blink.
When his left eye blinks, so does the right. When he cries, the other mouth opens too.
And when he drinks milk from the left side, the tongue on his right side moves also.
"It's almost like he's got a mirror down the middle," Ms Parker said.
The farmers had heard of other cases of lambs born with a similar deformity at nearby farms, but none of them had survived past a day of being born.
Ms Parker said her three young daughters - Anna, 10, and Sarah, 8, Parker and Kate Wilson, 6 - were smitten with their new "lambie" and loved to feed and cuddle him.
Ms Parker said Two Face was, apart from his deformity, a normal animal.
"He interacts with the other lambs and he wags his tail and talks to you.
"The kids and I know that he's not going to live for long...but we're giving him a chance just like any other lamb."
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