# Is it possible for someone to be born with a tail?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-someone-to-be-born-with-a-tail/184159>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 24, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-someone-to-be-born-with-a-tail/184159 "2003-06-24T22:26:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-someone-to-be-born-with-a-tail/184159/1 "2003-06-24T22:26:13Z")

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I was watching _That '70s Show_ and Eric told everyone that his sister, Laurie, was born with a tail.

Is this possible? I mean, just a little stump like?

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-someone-to-be-born-with-a-tail/184159/2 "2003-06-24T22:28:25Z")

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I seem to recall reading somewhere that a mutation in one gene can cause a person to be born with a tail. Take that with a grain of salt, of course.

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**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-someone-to-be-born-with-a-tail/184159/3 "2003-06-24T22:30:31Z")

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[Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_077.html) on the subject:

> [@](#):
>
> Occasionally, a child is born with a “soft tail,” described by one embryologist as containing “no vertebrae, but blood vessels, muscles, and nerves, of the same consistency as the short tail of the Barbary ape.” Modern procedures allow doctors to eliminate the tail at birth, but some children have had to learn to live with them. The longest human tail on record belonged to a twelve-year-old boy living in what was then Indochina; he boasted nine inches, which was probably enough to make him very, very popular.

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**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-someone-to-be-born-with-a-tail/184159/4 "2003-06-24T22:38:30Z")

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Guin, 15000+ posts and you didn’t think to check Cecil first? Well, everyone has an off day from time to time.