No, I'm not talking about my youngest child. I'm referring to a recent article I read regarding useless remnants in the anatomy of animals and humans in the course of evolution. Things like pelvis and thigh bones in whales and wings on flightless birds are interesting. Even the unnecessary sex organs on dandelions (apparently they reproduce by cloning themselves) are food for thought. But what is really fascinating are the extra things that humans are carting around: extra molars (wisdom teeth), a tail bone, male breast tissue and nipples, and the appendix!
The human appendix is a small pouch attached to the large intestine where it joins the small intestine and does not directly assist digestion. Biologists believe it is a vestigial organ left behind from a plant-eating ancestor. Interestingly, it has been noted by paleontologist Alfred Sherwood Romer in his text The Vertebrate Body (1949) that the major importance of the appendix "would appear to be financial support of the surgical profession," referring to, of course, the large number of appendectomies performed annually. In 2000, in fact, there were nearly 300,000 appendectomies performed in the United States!
Well, I still have mine, as well as my tailbone. I put my nipples to the test with my four babies and they seemed to do the job satisfactorily. Lastly, my wisdom teeth burst forth in 1975, screamed for attention, and were dealt with accordingly. Nowhere in the article did I read of the current necessity for pinkie toes or earlobes. The extra pounds are killing me!
