Staring Down Superdog.

You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, but Wendy (yes, this dog is a she) is friendly and “likes nothing better than a good back scratch and isn’t shy about sitting in your lap to ask for one”. The Whippet’s herculean appearance comes from two gene defects which cause a condition called “double muscling”, which can occur in any animal species. Link

There’s even an unnamed German boy running around with this genetic defect (the only recorded human case), who as a toddler had the strength of some adults.

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July 6, 2007 at 10:27 pm by Anita
Category: Animal, Pictures

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10 comments to "Staring Down Superdog."

Gabriel Millerd
July 6th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Dodge Power Ram?

http://www.ulg.ac.be/fmv/texeldm/

WP doesn’t do its justice:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscular_hypertrophy
Eliot
July 6th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
I remember seeing pictures of it in Belgian Blue cattle before: http://images.google.com/images?q=myostatin%20cow

Here’s the relevant wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myostatin
biltmore
July 7th, 2007 at 12:29 am
O_o …. wow, that dogs ripped!!!
meg
July 7th, 2007 at 1:20 am
I’ve seen it occasionally in Charlois cattle and is pretty common in Piedmont bulls (both are Continental beef cattle, I haven’t seen the trait in any British breeds, though I know it’s certainly possible)…sorta creepy how “ripped” some of them get…
Tim Giachetti
July 7th, 2007 at 4:45 am
The next governor of California?
Wendy wants to “Pump you up!”
jonno
July 7th, 2007 at 5:23 am
I work ooooooooooooout!
Virgin
July 7th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Now that is scary, though cute. I’m interested in seeing what happens to the child in the future who has the similar “defect”.
Alex
July 7th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Here are some pic of the German baby: Link 1, Link 2
Chip Overclock
July 7th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
I’m a fan of Stephen Pressfield’s novel’s that take place in Ancient Greece. The (maybe-mythical/maybe-based-on-an-actual-person) Hercules (a.k.a. Heracles) is mentioned as having been seen by a character in his book LAST OF THE AMAZONS, about the Amazon seige of Athens (which may or may not have actually happened). Anyway, the character debunks a lot of the Herculean myths, like he didn’t wear a lion skin that could not be penetrated by arrows but an iron suit of armor that only Hercules was strong enough to lift (and iron was very hard to come by at this time). One wonders if Hercules was based on an actual person with this disorder, abnormally, freakishly strong. If it’s rare among humans, it would well have been myth inspiring.
colin ferguson
July 7th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
looks like its eyes are about to pop out its head.it looks like its saying please kill me ima freak and i cant deal with this another day. i bet it has high blood pressure because it looks like its veins are about to burst.im havent ever heard of this disorder but i imagine it must put stress on your body and limit your life expectancy. some korean would love to make some barbecue outta all that meat.

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