Vestigal Appendages

What the heck is that???

Guess what, we all have them and we don’t need them at all. Now, why one would have a body part that is not needed is an interesting question. So if you don’t believe in evolution, well we gotta problem even before you finish the first paragraph.

We’ve all heard of the Appendix. It’s the one most people recognize.  And, It’s believed to have had some digestive use in our ancestors.

***Image of Ileum-Caecum-Colon of rabbit above. Bunny eating parsley below. It all fits, somehow. Beth Trissel posted this piece for Mary Ricksen who may never ask her again. But the bunny’s cute. So I added it.

Onto the Coccyx. Now think nice, it’s merely the remnants of our primeval tails. Sorry that’s all I could find.

(Beth could not better this pic.)

Moving along to our Wisdom Teeth. I guess that’s why they take them out so quickly.

***Beth was born without any. Lucky me. Maybe I’m more evolved than the rest of you.

Darwin’s Tubercle, It’s supposed to have helped amplify sound at one time. It just sits there now. (Perhaps it’s decorative, Beth suggests.)

The plica semilunaris is a small fold of tissue on the inside corner of the eye. It’s like the remnants of your dog, or cats third eyelid.  It’s that little thing in the very left of the picture of the eye. Imagine that!

Now why nature got rid of this one, I have no clue. It would help out a lot having that snooze lid.

*** A snooze lid would, indeed, be helpful. This little guy looks wide awake to me. He needs one.

‘The hymen is a membrane that surrounds or partially covers the external vaginal opening. Some scientists view the function of hymen in young girls as a protective membrane that protects the reproductive system from infection in the embryonic period and protects the fertility of young girls before mating.’  As Per Wikopedia word for word. No pictures sorry. But, the point is, we don’t need it.

***Mary didn’t supply an image for this, and Beth isn’t going there.

Goosebumps. You know the feeling and those little bumps are common for all of us.

Involuntary sympathetic  nervous system discharges. You don’t control them.

Image below of, you guessed it, goosebumps from Mary. Beth added the random goose from her farm. He has the original bumps.

And that, guys and gals, is what a vestigal appendage is. Thank the internet for Wikopedia, it explains a lot and has even more of them! You learn something new every day, huh?

While we’re at it; that  hair on the legs is one I wish would evolve totally away a bit quicker.

***Beth doesn’t have much on her legs. Once again, probably more highly evolved. The only possible explanation.

Thanks Mary for a most enlightening post. Happy to be a part of it.