A baby was born in Brazil with a 12-centimetre-long tail, with a weighty ball at the end, according to the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports.
The rare case was registered in the city of Fortaleza's Albert Sabin hospital. The baby was born prematurely at 35 weeks, and at the prenatal stage the anomaly went unnoticed. Doctors discovered the tail only after childbirth and successfully removed it at the request of the parents.
Similar boneless anomalies are rather rare and medical practice has documented only 40 cases of such anomalies.
Doctors identified the appendage as a pseudo-tail, as it did not have any cartilage or bones. Scientists have defined pseudo-tails as “protuberances basically composed of adipose or cartilaginous tissue and the presence of bone elements.”