Birth defects are quite common around the world, some more than others. Every
once in a while we see one that just catches our attention and makes us think
back to whether or not we've seen it before. In this case, it appears to be a
rare deformity that caused a
baby born with ears under its chin.
The image, taken from the popular photo site Imgur shows a
newborn baby who was born with a
few cranial birth defects, such as a deformed mouth and jawline, but more
prominently the placement of the ears stands out.
The placement of the
ears in this case is somewhat reminiscent of where gills would be on an
aquatic animal, or fish. Perhaps they
simply failed to migrate to the side of the head after they were formed. In the
first trimester of pregnancy, the ears form along the jaw line out of cartilage.
At some point during the second trimester the ears typically migrate to their
correct place on the side of the head. This is the normal process that appears
to have failed during the second trimester, which resulted in the low placement
of the ears as well as the deformed jaw line. The Mayo
Clinic states that by 18 weeks of
gestation, a fetus should be able to hear, as well as have fully formed
ears.
In the case of the
child in this picture, it is not
known if the child was born prematurely or if it survived post-birth. Details
about when and where this child were born are still unclear, as not much
information appears to be public aside from this picture.
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