Animals have horns – and some people do too. Really. A man in China has grown a three-inch horn on the back of his head.
A concentration of humans with horns appears to center around China, though a Yemen resident tops the charts by growing a 19” horn before it broke off of his head -- only to begin anew.
While humans don't need horns for battle, like some animals do, a human can still grow a horn or two from the head, face or neck. The most recent human -- to report one of the bizarre growths -- now sports a three-inch horn from the back of his head. Chinese resident Huang Yuanfan, 84, of Ziyuan. Apparently his horn growth growing two years ago when it started as a bump. The man says he tried picking at the horn and even trying to file it down, but the horn has simply continued to grow.
"Doctors say they don't know what caused it, but if they try to take it off it will just come back," Huang says. "I try to hide it [the horn] beneath a hat, but if it gets much longer it will be sticking out the top."
Whether related to diet, environment or genes remains to be seen -- but the country of China seems to have the corner on the horn market, where horns seem to grow aplenty: Zhang Ruifang is 101 years old, from China, and already had one horn when a second one began growing out of her head. She’s now got a pair of horns, though the first one is much longer at two and one-half inches in length. Zhang doesn’t want those horns taken off or removed and instead told media that she wants the second horn to match the first in length.
In 2007, 93-year-old Ma Zhong Nan had a lengthier horn version at over four inches long, growing atop his head. a 4-inch horn growing atop his head. Until the horn became itchy, he didn’t pay attention to the growth or find medical help to have it removed. Also in 2007, 95-year-old Xiou Ling entered the media when a 6 1/2-inch horn -- growing out of her forehead – finally took a downward spiral and curled over her face after four years.
Just the year prior, in 2006, Zhang Yuncai of China's thought a pimple was irritated by what he thought was a pimple or blemish on his head. That "pimple" grew into a 2-inch horn.
Horns aren’t limited to China – they just seem to be concentrated there. The largest human horn, though, is outside of China’s borders, in Yemen – growing to over one and one-half feet before it finally broke.
In 2007, Saleh Talib Saleh of Yemen was a 102-year-old man who began growing a horn at age 78 on the left side of his head. Saleh told the media that the horn didn’t really bother him but that it had continued to feel as if it was growing thicker and harder each week. That human horn turned out to be a whopper: the original growth reached 19 inches in length until it literally broke off in 2006, starting to grow back immediately – just days later.
Horns on humans are typically cutaneous -- made of the same substance, keratin, found in fingernails. Also cutaneous, the rare disease that causes tree-like growths known as “cutaneous horns” to grow from human hands and feet. Dede Koswara, a man from Indonesia who was dubbed the "Tree Man," finally received operations to remove the woody growths from his body that were barring use of his hands and feet. Unlike the cutaneous growths that severely affect physical function, cutaneous horns growing out of the head are harmless though bizarre.