Baby Born With 31 Fingers and Toes

A baby boy from China was born in January 2016 with 31 fingers and toes. It’s not the first time a child from that country was born with 31 digits, nor is it a world record.

31 Digits

Hong Hong was born in January 2016 in Pingjiang County in Hunan province with 15 fingers and 16 toes. The boy also has two palms on each hand, but has no thumbs.

The condition is known as polydactylism, or polydactyly, in which a person (or animals such as cats and dogs) are born with extra digits. It affects about 1 in every 1000 births and tends to run in families.

Family seeks help for surgery after baby boy born with 31 fingers and toes https://t.co/LXidGBoGK0

— HuffPost Weird News (@HuffPostWeird) May 5, 2016

Hong’s mother also has an finger and an extra toe.

The boy’s family is attempting to raise money for surgery, although doctors are split on the best course of action. The removal of the extra fingers and toes is made more complex by the fact that the boy needs reconstructed thumbs. The boy’s father said that surgery is expected to cost about $30,000 USD.

See a full photo archive of the child here.

In 2010, a 6-year old boy from China had 5 extra fingers and 6 extra toes removed, which also totaled 31 digits. His surgery took 6 hours.

34 Fingers and Toes

According to Guinness World Records, the most fingers and toes is 34 from a boy named Akshat Saxena who was born in northern India in 2010. He had 14 fingers and 20 toes, which were surgically reduced down to 10 each back in 2011. Akshat was also born without thumbs, which had to be reconstructed.

Conclusion

A Chinese baby was born in 2016 with 31 fingers and toes. While unusual, it is not completely unique. The current world record for fingers and toes is that of Akshat Saxena, who was born with 34 digits, although the extra fingers and toes were later removed.

There is was an urban legend that Marilyn Monroe had six toes, although that has been thoroughly debunked.