Lately there is a lot of hoopla about people with tails. Do you believe this can happen and there are REAL people who have this evolutionary defect?
2007-08-13 05:40:34 · 14 answers · asked by kelliandjay 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
It happens, on occasion, that a person may be born with a vestigal tail. It is rare, but not all that unusual. It takes the form of a short, stubby growth of an inch or so. Doctors will usually surgically remove the tail within hours of the baby's birth and the child can lead a normal, healthy life.
It is just a minor birth defect, not an evolutionary defect.
2007-08-13 05:52:56 · answer #1 · answered by Vince M 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Genetic storage is a nuance of evolution too often ignored. Many paleontologists believe that when a bone disappears in evolution, the genetic blueprint for that bone is also erased.... But in fact evolution does not occur in this fashion. Hoatzin's ancestors never lost the genetic blueprint for producing Archaeopteryx-style clawed fingers. Recent advances in genetic research reveal that most species carry such blueprints that are "switched off" and can't express their code as fully formed tissue. In other words, when an organ has been "lost," most of the time its blueprint is still there, in genetic storage.
Such throwbacks even occur in human infants. Hospitals occasionally register an entirely modern-looking baby characterized by all the expected organs, plus an unexpected tail, a long, caudal appendage protruding beyond the buttocks for two or three inches. Some of these tails are even bigger than the average caudal remnant displayed by our close kin, the chimps, gorillas, and orangutans
2007-08-13 07:54:14 · answer #2 · answered by mjb 2 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Well, to be quite frank, we all have a tailbone; so in a sense, we all have tails.
But to answer your Q, yes, some people have a deformity to where their
tailbones extend from their bodies. This is rare and is not any indication that the person is a monster or anything of the sort.
2007-08-13 06:07:40 · answer #3 · answered by sylvester m 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Yes, some people are born with a free "tail." Science fact.
2007-08-13 06:06:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yeah it can happen. But it's rare and it's usually just a weird circular piece for skin hanging down. I haven't really seen anyone with a fully functional tail before
2007-08-13 05:44:55 · answer #5 · answered by A 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
yes... this is quite true
this is because in human's back bone : the last bone which is slightly crooked is actually our tail... this bone curved inwards that is why we dont really grow a tail behind us but according to biologist, there are possibilities that the bone might be growing outward in the past but without any proof they did not publish the news in the public
2007-08-13 05:43:59 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is extremely rare but it does happen I had a cousin that had a vestigial tail removed,
2007-08-13 05:44:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Oh yes, there was a guy on the x files who had a tail, just a small one. Scully says say that a few people are born with a spine thats extra long, theres not more to this than that.
2007-08-13 06:02:30 · answer #8 · answered by Cowboy C 4 · 2⤊ 3⤋
well some people can have tails but not because there turning into something it is all because of their spinal cord being too long!
2007-08-13 05:44:37 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
All people have tails - that is they have tailbones. However it would be a rare defect if the tailbones were not under the surface of the skin.
2007-08-13 08:50:37 · answer #10 · answered by Rich Z 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋