Surgeons in China have operated to remove a five inch tail from a four-month-old baby girl.
The little girl, called Hong Hong, was born with the tail but it had since doubled in size, reports the Anhui Market Daily.

Her father, Hou, of Lixing town in eastern China's Anhui province, said he had been "shocked" to see the tail at birth.

"I wanted to cut it off when she was born, but doctors suggested we wait some time, as a newborn is too weak to take such a surgery," he said.

He checked the tail each day, hoping it would get smaller but instead it just "grew bigger and bigger", he added.

Doctors at the Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital said they too had been surprised by the case.

"It's very rare, about one in a million. We have never seen anything like this before," said Dr Sun Jun.

X-rays had shown that the tail was connected to a fatty tumor within the spinal column.

Dr Sun said the surgery had been successful, but it was still too early to say whether further treatment would be necessary.

econ41 wrote:It looks like this is not a tail, rather an outgrowth of a tumour which is shaped and located somewhat like a tail.

Propagangster wrote:It's quite a rare occurance, but a certain number of babies are born with tails. We still have the genes required to form one, it's just that they are dormant or inactive in the vast majority of human beings. In the early stages of development, an embryo will begin to grow a tail; it is noticeable at around 4 weeks after conception; though it usually disappears another three to four weeks later. In some rare cases like this one, the tail remains.

This is only evidence that, earlier in our evolutionary line, our ancestors had tails (and that in some random individuals, the genes required are sufficiently activated for them to be born with one). Looking at an embryo's development actually provides a fountain of information in regards to our evolution, as does looking into the dormant genes found in the human body.

week15 wrote:Tumor or not in this case, what would the implications of having a fully formed tail be? I'm not talking social issues. Would there be any advantages or disadvantages to the feature?

james1v wrote:Hope the baby is ok.

GenesForLife wrote:Another Atavatism that'll have the fundies crying

week15 wrote:Tumor or not in this case, what would the implications of having a fully formed tail be? I'm not talking social issues. Would there be any advantages or disadvantages to the feature?

GenesForLife wrote:Another Avatarism that'll have the fundies crying