Vestigiality

Top 5 Vestigial Structures In Humans

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• published: 26 Feb 2016
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Vestigial structures, vestigial organs, and vestigial body parts all fascinatingly reveal truth about our ancient evolution, and while they are in general harmless, some are unfortunately dangerous. It is those dangerous vestigial organs that have made it to this list. As always, I hope you enjoy. -- Number 5: Wisdom Teeth Wisdom teeth are vestigial molars located at the back of the mouth that usually emerge during a person’s late teens. Unfortunately, during their development they often dislodge and fracture other teeth, cause jaw ache, damage surrounding tissue, and in general cause a lot of pain and discomfort… Number 4: The Coccyx Commonly referred to as the tailbone, the coccyx is the final segment of the spine in vertebrates, and while it generally functions as a tail for most species, in others, such as apes, guinea pigs and seals, the coccyx is simply a remnant of their ancient ancestors’ tail. While the coccyx doesn’t cause many problems for species without tail, it is Number 3: Male Nipples No matter your gender, we all began life as a female… Seriously, during the first couple of weeks of our embryonic development we all followed a female blueprint, and only after about 60 days did some of us receive a healthy dose of testosterone to then become a male. Simply stated, that’s why us men have nipples. They are a reminder that we were once female… Number 2: Body Hair The hair on our head insulates us, male facial hair plays a role in sexual attraction, and our eyebrows are important for communication and to keep sweat out of our eyes, but why exactly do we have "body hair?” Well, like most mammals, ancient humans once benefited greatly from body hair because it kept them warm – but over the last few million years humans have all but lost their body hair, and hence what little is left is a reminder of where we come from and what we are. Number 1: The Appendix In plant-eating vertebrates the appendix helps breakdown cellulose in lettuce, celery, and other extremely low nutrient and high fiber plants, allowing the body to extract as many calories and nutrients as possible. In humans, however, the appendix is proportionately tiny, doesn’t directly assist with digestion, and because it’s extremely susceptible to infection it causes each year for over 500,000 people to have appendectomy surgery, and for a further 75,000 people to die from appendicitis. -- So, there you have it, what I consider to be the Top 5 Vestigial Structures in Humans. What are your thoughts on these vestigial structures, vestigial organs and vestigial body parts? Let me know in the comment section below – I’d love to know your thoughts! Thanks for the view, and for more please click subscribe. -- Background Music: “Morning Cruise” by Jens Killstofe “Electroids” by Jens Killstofe Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)