A Chinese schoolgirl who is partially covered in black fur has been adopted after she was abandoned by her birth family.
Liu Jiangli, now six, was born with a thick coating of black fur on the left side of her face, as well as patches of it across 60per cent of her body.
Liu, from Zhongjie village, Qingzhen, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, also has black hair inside her left ear.
At the age of two her mother left the family home and shortly afterwards, her father took her to a kindergarten but never came back.
During Liu’s time at the kindergarten, she earned the nickname “little monkey” – a moniker which has sadly stuck.
She has been unable to make friends as other children are either frightened of her or taunt her about her appearance.
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The kindergarten made newspaper announcements asking for the toddler’s relatives to claim her, and six months later the grandfather of one of her cousins came forward.
Liu Mingying has looked after Liu ever since, but worries he won’t be able to afford to pay for her education, and is concerned she will always be taunted about her appearance.
"It's very itchy," Liu told Rex Features, as she scratched the patches of hair, adding: “But it’s not painful.”
Mingying, a maize farmer admitted he felt uncomfortable about the little girl's condition, but now accepts her completely and even jokes about her huge appetite.
The 48-year-old wants to send Liu to school but is put off by his neighbours’ comments and that she might “scare the other kids in the school.”
There is currently no official explanation for Liu’s condition, although it does appear reminiscent of a syndrome known as Hypertricosis Universalis, which leaves sufferers covered entirely in body hair.