Stumpy the four-legged duckling is basking in the spotlight after appearing in the Daily Echo on Saturday.

His fame has spread across the world from Paris to Peking.

You may think you have gone quackers but your eyes are not deceiving you - this little duckling has definitely got four legs.

There have been reports of crows with white feathers and cows with two heads but Hampshire farmer Nicky Janaway had never seen a duckling with four legs until it hatched at her New Forest farm last week.

Stumpy, as he has been named, is as yellow and fluffy as all his other brothers and sisters but has two distinctive features that none of them have - two extra legs.

Nicky, who runs Warrawee Duck Farm in Copythorne, where they hatch and produce duck eggs, could not believe her eyes. She said: "He hatched last Friday and as I picked him up to check him I noticed something different about him. At first I thought he had three legs but then I realised he actually has four.

"I didn't think he would survive but in fact a week later and he's still here. He can run around perfectly OK and he doesn't even notice his extra legs. They are like little stabilisers."

Nicky notified her vet in Hythe about the ducklings extra limbs but he is feeding and growing well so does not need any medical intervention.

Bird experts claim to have never heard of a duck with four legs to be in existence and thought it was a joke when they were told.

Wind-up' John Durnell, head of conservation for the West Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, said: "I have never heard of anything like this in my life and I have been bird watching for more than 30 years. At first I thought it was a wind-up but if it is true I can't wait to see in the Daily Echo."

In nature you can get some aberrant animals, especially in large populations, but I have never seen or heard of a four-legged bird in domestic situations.

"In the wild this duckling may not survive as the extra limbs would hamper its survival but it should do well under domestic circumstances as he is being well looked after. He is definitely one in a million, if not more."