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Human Tails?
Name: Kasandra
Status: other
Age: 20s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1999-2001
Question:
What are the human "tails" made of? I also wanted to
know where most of the humans discovered to have these tails have come
from(city, state, or region) and what the possible cause of this phenomenon is?
This information will be used to prove to a elementary school teacher
that human "tails" are real!
Replies:
Hi,
Human tails? I'm assuming you mean the extension of the caudal vertebrae
outside the skin at birth. One person I worked with was born with a "tail"
that was rectified with minor surgery. Humans are not born with long
tails, but rather an extension of the vertebrae to form what could be
described as a "tail", I guess.
In any case, this is a rare occurrence! I spoke to a group of nurses once
and they had never witness a baby born with a tail. However, I did see a
medical journal or text with pictures and I must admit, it was not a big deal.
The cause is probably (but I do not know for sure) a genetic flaw or
developmental problem. Minor in any case.
You are not going to find someone walking around the streets with a tail
hidden under their shorts!!
Steve Sample
Hi Kasandra!
See...the human species do not has tails. In animals the tail is a prolongation
of the vertebral column, and internaly is made of vertebrae (bones) covered
by skin and coat. Our cousins, the monkeys, still have tails because they need
them, to pick up things, to help climbing and equilibrium. As the primates
evoluted toward an erect species they lost their "tail" , they no longer needs it.
It is possible and it so happens that by some " nature error" like a deformed
gene, some human beeing is born with a small prolongation after the coccix
bone that looks like a "tail". Some are made of bone and some are just pieces
of muscle, cartilage or tissues. Nowadays if this unfortunately happens to a baby,
usually these "tails" are surgically taken away.
There are no relationship of place of birth and that malformation.
Thanks for asking NEWTON! And tell your friends about it!
Mabel
(Dr. Mabel Rodrigues)
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Update: June 2012
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