A medical journal has just revealed that a baby in Brazil was recently born with a true human tail. While all fetuses develop tails, in the vast majority of babies, the tails completely disappear by the time the baby is born, leaving no external evidence whatsoever. However, according to DailyMail.com, there have been about 40 reported cases of babies born with "boneless" tails throughout history.
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The case of the unnamed Brazilian baby born with a tail was chronicled in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports, which revealed that the tail was not noticed during any of the mother's prenatal appointments, though it does not discuss how many ultrasounds she had or when she had them during her pregnancy. Once the baby was born, doctors discovered the tail and ran some tests to determine whether it was posing any risk to the child.
The baby was born premature.
The baby boy was born several weeks early, at 35 weeks gestation. According to the report, he was born some time prior to January 2021, although his exact date of birth has not been revealed.
The tail was rather large.
The baby, of course, was tiny, but his tail was not. It was a thin, cylindrical tail that was measured at 12 cm, or about 4.72 inches. The average length of a human baby at birth is 20 inches, and with this child being premature, he was likely smaller, so the tail may have been more than a quarter his length.
The tail developed a growth.
The baby's tail actually developed a large, round growth at its end. The growth itself was about 4 cm in diameter, so just over an inch and a half. It's unclear whether the mass was solid or not.
There was no bone or cartilage.
In the report, physicians noted that there was no bone or cartilage found in the tail or the ball that grew at the tip of it, which is what indicates that it was a true human tail that was not absorbed by the body before birth as is typical, and also not some other kind of growth or deformity.
The tail wasn't dangerous.
Doctors examined the baby's tail and performed an ultrasound, determining that the tail was posing no risk. However, it is unknown whether it was causing the baby discomfort. It was also determined at that time that surgical removal of the tail was an option.
The tail was surgically removed.
Surgeons at Albert Sabin Children's Hospital in Fortaleza, Brazil, were able to successfully remove the baby's tail, leaving just a small mark on his bottom. The surgery went smoothly, and there were no complications.
