A baby in Brazil has left the doctors flabbergasted as he is one of a handful to ever be born with a true human tail - a rare 12 cm long appendage that had a ball on the end. 

Thankfully, the doctors were able to successfully remove the 'chain and ball' after surgery. As per reports in the media, the baby was born at the Albert Sabin Children's Hospital in the city of Fortaleza.

Though all babies develop an embryonic tail in the womb between four to eight weeks after gestation, it is normally reabsorbed back into the body. But in rarest of rare cases, this doesn't happen and the tail can continue to grow.  Science News | Study Finds How Our Brain Recognises Familiar Faces

By the time he was born, the tail had grown as long as 12cm, and developed a 4cm diameter ball at its tip. 

The case is extremely rare, as it is being reported that there have only been about 40 documented cases of children being born with true, boneless tails in history. 

He was born prematurely at 35 weeks with no complications.

The surgery, as detailed in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports had no complications but details of the boy’s recovery has not been given.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 06, 2021 07:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).