Vestigial Structure

Coccyx (Tailbone)

2. Coccyx (Tailbone) - Humans do not need tails to live in trees as earlier human ancestors did. The coccyx currently serves as an anchor for muscles; that wasn't its original purpose, so that's why it's considered vestigial.

Gill-slits & tails

Structures that are there only as useless leftovers or vestiges of our evolutionary ancestry.

Legs of the Boa Constrictor and Python

Vestigial legs are a clue that these snakes descended from lizards.

Whale Pelvis

Vestigial pelvic bones suggest whales are the descendants of land mammals

Wisdom teeth (third molars)

Wisdom teeth are considered a vestigial organ -- no longer useful -- because our diet has evolved. Early humans ate a diet of tuff plants that required a lot of rough chewing.

Vertebrate

an animal that has a backbone

Embryologist

physician who specializes in the study and treatment of the growth and development of the human organism

Appendix

scientists believe that the appendix was used for the digestion of a more plant-based diet. As humans evolved, they started to include more easily digestible food in their diet and the appendix eventually lost this function.

Vestigial Structure

structure that is inherited from ancestors but has lost much or all of its original function

Embryo

the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month

Comparative Embryology

the study of the similarities and differences in the embryos of different species