A baby in Brazil is one of a handful to ever be born with a true human tail, doctors have revealed.
Fascinating pictures published in a medical journal show how the appendage had a ball-shaped mass on the end.
All babies develop an embryonic tail in the womb between four to eight weeks after gestation, but this is normally reabsorbed back into the body.
But in extremely rare cases, this doesn't happen and the tail can continue growing.
By the time he was born, the tail had grown to a whopping 12cm, and developed a 4cm diameter ball at its tip.
Doctors who examined the bay noted the tail contained no parts made of cartilage and bone, meaning it was a rare example of a true human tail.
There have only been about 40 documented cases of children being born with true, boneless, tails in history.
It is not clear if the tail was removed because it was causing the child discomfort or pain or at the request of his family.
Human ancestors, alongside our ape relatives, lost our tails when we diverged from monkeys about 20million years ago.
In some faiths and cultures, human tails are considered holy and are worshiped.
The unidentified Brazilian newborn had his tail removed at Albert Sabin Children's Hospital in the coastal city of Fortaleza, located in the north east of the country, sometime prior to January 2021.
He was born prematurely at 35 weeks with no complications, but initial assessment of the child revealed the tail and ball growth on the end.
After an ultrasound scan revealed no concerns relating to the tail being attached to the baby's nervous system, surgeons opted to remove the appendage but they did not detail how they did so.
The surgery, as detailed in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports had no complications but no details of the boy's recovery was given.
A true human tail is remnant of the one most babies grow in the womb, before it is reabsorbed into the body, forming the tailbone.
In contrast a pseudo-tail is a protrusion from the bottom of the spinal cord which is characterised by being made out of fat, cartilage and elements of bone, the doctors explained.
A post-surgery analysis of the tail found it was comprised of boneless tissue with the ball on the end being made of fat and embryonic connective tissue.
Consent to publish the case was not obtained by the authors but no information was included in the study which could lead to the identification of the child.
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