The 'one-eyed giant' - the mythical figure turned out to be real

In Greek mythology there is a species called "Cyclop" - roughly translated: "one-eyed giant". These are giant creatures, with a single eye in the middle of the forehead.

The most obvious example of the occurrence of cyclops is the Odyssey High School - epic poetry collection compiled by Homer. It was unclear when Homer had . imagined it, just knew what he had written about cyclop - from a certain angle - to be true.

One-eyed giant image.

Cyclopathy cannot be cured

That's right, there is a disease called "cyclopia" in this world - also called monocular. This is a birth defect that occurs both in humans and animals.

This deformity occurs in the process of forming our faces. For those who do not know, their faces are not born. In the first months of pregnancy, the face will develop in separate and separate parts, then "transplant" like a puzzle.

This deformity occurs in the process of forming our faces.

Children are different from cyclopia. The process of forming their faces is "faulty", making two eyes unable to divide, leaving only one eye in the center of the face. The nose and mouth did not appear.

Children with cyclopia.

Just like the eyes, the child's brain with cyclopia cannot divide into two hemispheres like normal people. As a result, these unfortunate babies often do not have the opportunity to be born, but often die from miscarriage, or because the parents have to abort the abortion.

Even when surviving until the birth, these children die within a few hours to a few days. The cause of death is not the same, but usually because these children have no mouth, or because the respiratory system is weak, does not function normally.

This malformation occurs only at about 0.5%.

This malformation occurs only at about 0.5%. Listening to small ideas, but compared to the number of children born in the world is 130 million children a year, the amount of children encountering this problem is up to 650,000.

What is special is that this deformity is not limited to humans, but animals are also likely to encounter. Experts say the rate of cyclopia in animals is about 1 / 16,000 births. According to statistics, people have seen cats, sheep, pigs, or even sharks - all born with a single eye.

This deformity is not limited to humans, but animals are also likely to encounter.

This is the one-eyed shark reported on National Geographic in October 2011.

The skull of a single-eyed horse.

In fact, the occurrence of one-eyed animals in the wild is very rare, as, like humans, malformed animals often die in the womb.

The cause of this malformation is thought to be due to genetic mutations , or because the mother during pregnancy has been exposed to a number of toxic substances that can inhibit the process of fetal formation.

One of the most toxic toxins is cyclopamine (or 2-deoxyjervine) . It is found in lily corn - the scientific name is Veratrum californicum , a native of South America. This plant is often mistaken by pregnant women with madness treatment (hellebore) - which works to treat joint pain, reduce nausea and strengthen the circulatory system during pregnancy.

Western corn (left) and hibiscus (right).

So, you see, there are still many strange and scary diseases on Earth?