Which is a vestigial structure found in humans

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Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Heather Scoville. Science Expert. Heather Scoville is a former medical researcher and current high school science teacher who writes science curriculum for online science courses. Updated August 29, Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Scoville, Heather. Google Scholar.

Zenis Ambrocio ; Zenis Ambrocio. Julia B. Andrade ; Julia B. Katanya K. Foust ; Katanya K. Jasmine E. Gaston ; Jasmine E. Ryshonda P. Lewis ; Ryshonda P. Rachel M. Liniewski ; Rachel M.

Bobby A. Ragin ; Bobby A. Khanna L. Robinson ; Khanna L. Shane G. Stanley Shane G. The American Biology Teacher 77 2 : 99— Get Permissions. Cite Icon Cite. Table 1. Reference s. View Large. Arkhipkin, A. Vestigial phragmocone in the gladius points to a deepwater origin of squid Mollusca: Cephalopoda. Deep-Sea Research I , 61 , — Ashman, T. Constraints on the evolution of males and sexual dimorphism: field estimates of genetic architecture of reproductive traits in three populations of gynodioecious Fragaria virginiana.

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Longo, S. Homology of lungs and gas bladders: insights from arterial vasculature. Maxwell, E. These fused vertebrae are the only vestiges that are left of the tail that other mammals still use for balance, communication, and in some primates, as a prehensile limb. As our ancestors were learning to walk upright, their tail became useless, and it slowly disappeared.

It has been suggested that the coccyx helps to anchor minor muscles and may support pelvic organs. However, there have been many well documented medical cases where the tailbone has been surgically removed with little or no adverse effects.

There have been documented cases of infants born with tails, an extended version of the tailbone that is composed of extra vertebrae. There are no adverse health effects of such a tail, unless perhaps the child was born in the Dark Ages. In that case, the child and the mother, now considered witches, would've been killed instantly.

The erector pili are smooth muscle fibers that give humans "goose bumps". If the erector pili are activated, the hairs that come out of the nearby follicles stand up and give an animal a larger appearance that might scare off potential enemies and a coat that is thicker and warmer. Humans, though, don't have thick furs like their ancestors did, and our strategy for several thousand years has been to take the fur off other warm looking animals to stay warm. It's ironic actually that an animal, sensing danger is near, would puff up its coat to look scarier, but the human hunter would see the puffier coat as a warm prize, leaving the thinner haired weaker looking animals alone.

Of course, some body hair is helpful to humans; eye brows can keep sweat out of the eyes and facial hair might influence a woman's choice of sexual partner. All the rest of that hair, though, is essentially useless.

Biologists believe that for million years the only vertebrates on Earth were water-dwelling creatures, with no arms or legs. At some point these "fish" began to develop hips and legs and eventually were able to walk out of the water, giving the earth its first land lovers. Once the land-dwelling creatures evolved, there were some mammals that moved back into the water. Biologists estimate that this happened about 50 million years ago, and that this mammal was the ancestor of the modern whale.

Despite the apparent uselessness, evolution left traces of hind legs behind, and these vestigial limbs can still be seen in the modern whale.

There are many cases where whales have been found with rudimentary hind limbs in the wild, and have been found in baleen whales, humpback whales, and in many specimens of sperm whales. Most of these examples are of whales that had only leg bones, but there were some that included feet with complete digits.

It was reported recently that whales and hippos were distantly related. Hilaire, traveled to Egypt with Napoleon where he witnessed and wrote about a flightless bird whose wings appeared useless for soaring. The bird that Hilaire described was an ostrich, but he described it as a "cassowary", a term used back then to describe various birds of ostrich-like appearance.

Ostriches and cassowaries are among several birds that have wings that are vestigial. Besides the cassowary, other flightless birds with vestigial wings are the kiwi, and the kakapo the only known flightless and nocturnal parrot , among others. In general, wings of a bird are considered complex structures that are specifically adapted for flight and those belonging to these flightless birds are no different. They are, anatomically, rudimentary wings, but they could never give these bulky birds flight.