A baby has been born with a four-inch tail growing from its buttocks in an extremely rare case in China.

Phone footage shared by Paediatrician Dr Li, deputy chief physician of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Hangzhou Children’s Hospital, in Hangzhou, in eastern Zhejiang Province, shows the remarkable and unusual growth sticking it from the baby’s behind.

The boneless rear-end appendage is reportedly nearly 10 centimetres [3.9 inches] in length.

According to Dr Li, the unusual growth is likely the result of incomplete degeneration and he suspected the child has a tethered spinal cord.

Spinal cord magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) later confirmed the suspicions, he added.

A tethered spinal cord is a condition in which the spinal cord is abnormally attached to surrounding tissues, typically at the base of the spine.

Normally, the spinal cord floats freely within the spinal canal, allowing for normal movement and function.

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However, in cases of tethered spinal cord, this movement is restricted, which can lead to various neurological problems.

The rare case caused various reactions on Douyin, the Chinese TikTok, where the video reached more than 34,000 likes and over 145,000 shares after it was shared on 11th March.

A user titled ‘More music’ said: “How do you fix this? Should the treatment be surgery or just letting it fall off? very curious”

User ‘Happy Li’ wrote: “I think it’s pretty cool. Does it have any effect on the baby’s health?”

And ‘boss’ commented: “I heard about this kind of thing when I was young, but I didn’t expect it to be true.”