Animal farm

Forty years ago or so, Fidel Castro promised that Cuban “revolutionary” scientists would one day produce a super-cow that would provide more milk and more beef than any other cow in the world.

Of course, it was all crap – an idiotic plan that would keep Cuban laboratories busy for years with nothing to show for it in the end ... just like Castro’s other promises.

But now we have news that a humble chicken in Campo Florido, a town just outside Havana, has produced a super-egg.

According to the official Cuban media, the unnamed hen has laid a 180-gram egg, which is believed to be the largest egg ever laid in the world. Or at least the largest egg likely to make it into the Guinness Book of Records.

The hen’s owner, a 77-year-old campesino identified as Teofilo Martinez, told the media that while he had raised chickens all his life he had never ever seen an egg quite this large.

“She seemed normal," Mr Martinez said, referring to the wonder hen. "But she couldn’t properly sit on the nest, so I went to see what was wrong and then I saw it.”

The super-egg remains in the family's fridge.