Brazilian baby is born with a 12 cm 'tail' and a ball at the end

A 35-week premature baby was born with a 12cm tail, with a ball on the end.  The case, very rare, happened at the beginning of the year, at the Albert Sabin Children's Hospital, in Fortaleza.

Doctors performed surgery to remove the appendix and reported the procedure in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports, published in February.

All babies develop an embryonic tail in the uterus between four to eight weeks after pregnancy, but it is normally reabsorbed into the body.  In the case of the baby, it continued to grow, reaching 12 cm, with the ball at the end measuring 4 cm in diameter.

Upon examination, doctors noted that the tail was free of parts made of cartilage and bone, meaning that it was a rare example of a true human tail.

Tail removed after birth Image: Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports

In addition, tests were performed to assess the baby's neurological status, and no changes were found.  He also had no systemic changes other than the cutaneous appendix.  Removal was done without complications.

According to the Daily Mail, only about 40 similar cases have ever been registered in medicine.  It is estimated that, in the trajectory that divided apes and humans, 20 million years ago the specimens that guided the evolution of Homo sapiens began to run out of tails.

The published report was signed by Humberto Forte (physician residing in pediatrics), Carlos Eduardo Lopes Soares (student at the Federal University of Ceará), Márcia Maria de Holanda Góes Bezerra (pediatric surgeon at Hospital Albert Sabin), Verlene de Araujo Verdiano (neonatologist) , Rodrigo Schuler Honorio (pathologist at Hospital Albert Sabin) and Francisco das Chagas Barros Brilhante (pediatric surgeon at Hospital Albert Sabin).