News reports in the Indonesian village of Oenunto show a woman in hospital, supposedly recovering from labour, having 'given birth' to a gecko.
Midwife Josephine Lydia Hellen Wadu (pictured above) reported a lizard emerging during the labour, instead of a baby, insisting on taking the lizard to the Oenuntono Health Centre.
Experts are investigating the claims, after 31-year-old Debi Nubatonis and her family were accused of dark magic.
Responding to reports, Chief Medical Officer of nearby Kupang City, Dr Messe Ataupa, said:
"It is clearly a nonsense to suggest that the woman gave birth to a lizard. There has never been a proven case of a living organism from one species giving birth to a different species, it just doesn't happen.
"We have spoken to locals who confirmed that the woman showed all the symptoms of pregnancy, and it does seem according to the midwife that she appeared to be going into labour.
"However we believe it was just a phantom pregnancy or pseudocyesis where there was never a child although the woman would have had many of the symptoms.
‘Childbirth of another species has never been reported in science.’