Vestigial Human Body Parts You Didn't Know

Sunday, Aug 16, 2020, 1:41 pm

By:Tony Williams

1.Darwin's Tubercle

Approximately 10% of people have a little bit of thickening on the outside of their ear about two thirds of the way up it and this is something that is commonly found in mammals. It once again harks back to when we lived in trees, but of course it plays no part in our life today.

2.Sinuses

This one is confusing because sinuses are pretty much just spaces in your face where air can go as well as bacteria. They do not actually play any particular role apart from to cause you pain and discomfort when they become infected.

3.Pinky toes

OK so we are used to having five toes on each foot, but in all honesty we could cope just as well without the little one on the end. This toe was used by our monkey ancestors in order to help grab onto branches

4.Female vas deferens

These are sperm ducts that are located near the ovaries and basically this is the female equivalent of male nipples. They start off the same as the male variety in the fetus, but as the fetus grows and stays a female they end up just becoming completely dead tubes.

5.Spare ribs

Believe it or not, but approximately 5% of us will have spare ribs. Most people have 12 sets of them, but there are some people who will have an extra set nearer the neck and this is in line with chimps and gorillas even though they do nothing whatsoever.

6.Tonsils

This one is debatable because they do still catch bacteria although we mainly notice then when they themselves become infected and give us a sore throat. The chances are you probably know somebody that has had them out at some point and that is because we can survive perfectly well without them.

7.Third eyelid

If you look on the inside corner of your eye you will see a fold. That is actually a third eyelid and it actually resembles something that birds and fish have. Ideally it is supposed to move from side to side, but of course that does not happen so it sits there in the corner doing nothing.

8.Arrector pili

This is what makes you have goose bumps and your hair to stand up on end, but we do not actually need that to happen. However, it evolved as it was a way for an animal to make itself look bigger than it actually is, so it harks back to the days when we were the hunted and not the hunter.

9.Wisdom teeth

It is believed that wisdom teeth were required way back in our distant past, but the problem here is that the modern jaw is smaller and we no longer use them. Due to our jaw being smaller that explains why some people have a lot of pain when they come through as they are trying to get into a space that is just not there.

10.Male nipples

Male nipples play no role whatsoever, but guys have them because they evolve early on in the womb and at that point it is still up in the air as to whether or not the baby will be male or female. It is the testosterone that determines what happens, but it does mean that guys are stuck with nipples.

11.Tailbone

This is interesting because clearly we do not have tails, but if you go way back in our ancestry, then we did. However, when we started walking upright for any prolonged period of time the tail became useless, so we evolved some more and the result was the tailbone as different parts fused together.

12.Appendix

Yep at one point your appendix would have been useful, but now it just sits there waiting to burst and potentially kill you. It does not actually play any role now as it used to form part of our digestive system, but it has long been forgotten about, but we still have one.

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