The girl was born with a tail in Mexico

The Mexican baby was born with a tail covered in skin and hair.

This extremely rare phenomenon has been recorded less than 200 times.

The unidentified baby was born by caesarean section at a hospital in Nuevo León. Her parents were healthy, both in their thirties.

Doctors quickly noticed a 5.7 cm long tail that was “soft”, “covered with skin and thin hair” and had a “pointy” tip. Describing the incident in detail in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, doctors led by Dr. Josue Rueda believe that this case is the first in history recorded in Mexico.

The doctors said that the child was born full-term and there were no complications during pregnancy. Her parents already have a healthy son. But soon after the girl was born, doctors noticed a tail that stuck out at the end of her tailbone. The child cried only when a needle was stuck in the tail. The newborn was otherwise healthy, with brain, heart, hearing, and urine tests showing normal results.

Human tails fall into two categories. “Pseudo-tails” are growths that resemble a tail, but are caused by problems with the spine or tumors.

And “true tails” that contain muscles, blood vessels and nerves, but without bones – like in animals. They are thought to arise from the fetal tail that all babies develop in the womb, but are usually reabsorbed back into the body to form the coccyx.

The scan showed that the tail was not the result of a spinal problem such as spinal dysraphism, a condition in which the back does not form properly and can lead to a tail-like growth in the lower spine.

Doctors discharged the baby and re-examined her when she was two months old. She was a healthy weight and height, and her tail grew 0.8 cm. Surgeons removed it in a minor operation, which was performed under local anesthesia. The patient was discharged the same day without any complications. Further analysis of the tail revealed that it contained soft tissues, arteries and veins, and bundles of nerves.

Human “true tails” are extremely rare: by 2017, only 195 cases had been identified, with the longest of them being 20 cm. They are most common in boys, and one in 17 children with a tail also suffers from brain or skull growth disorders.

As a rule, such a defect is not detected until the birth of the child, and doctors do not know what causes it.

Human ancestors, along with our ape relatives, lost their tails about 20 million years ago. In some religions and cultures, human tails are considered sacred and worshipped.

Christina DENISYUK.

Photo: Jam Press