Top 10 Vestigial Organs In Human Body

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By CraigAK

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The world is ever changing since its formation. With the creation of several small acellular to multicellular, several theories of evolution has come into action. Humans, called as Homo Sapiens in the scientific term have established themselves as the most creative living thing in the entire world up to now. And, with the several natural phenomenon of change, several organs in the human body has lost its important and become useless with the course of time. These organs or the body parts are called as the Vestigial organs. There parts are no longer required to function the human body.

According to Charles Darwin, there vestigial organs in human body also mark the evidence of evolution. Although the structures are usually called vestigial or useless, they may still retain some of the lesser known functions or even develop minor operations in the body. Also, in some cases, these vestigial structures have some unrecognized function in the human body. Let us take a look at the top 10 vestigial organs in human body which have lost its importance over the course of development and evolution.

10. Male Nipples

Male nipples- vestigial organs in human body

This might be a surprising fact that male nipples are of no use in the human body. The presence of male nipples in the human body of a male is because of the fact that every fetus during the development period of a child starts out female. And, the fetus is caused to veer either to male or a female by the level of testosterone. It is also good to know that some male have also been known to lactate. Another fact is that males are also vulnerable to breast cancer.

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9. Coccyx

Coccyx- vestigial organ in human body

Coccyx is also known as the tail bone, and it is the remnant of the lost tail. Almost every mammals had tail at one point during their evolution, and during the development of a child in the womb of the mother, the tail is present for a period of 4 weeks during the stage of the embryogenesis. The tail in the mammals have a specific task of helping in balancing and mobility of the body, but it has lost its significant role in the human body. However, it is also reported that some of the new born child had a tail even after their birth. 23 cases of such child with a tail have been reported since 1884 in the medical literature.

8. Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom Teeth- vestigial organ in human body

Wisdom teeth are also the vestigial part which are useless in the human body. They come out during the early stages of adulthood in most of the cases. They were the third molars which helped human ancestors in grinding down the plant tissues. Human skulls were larger during the ancestral age with larger jaws and more teeth. They helped in chewing down the foliage because of the lack of the ability in digesting the cellulose in the plant cell wall. With the change in the type of human diet, smaller jaws started developing and these wisdom teeth, or the third molar teeth became useless. However, in most of the cases, they still come after an age of 18 or 20 and can also be harmful in most of the cases.

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7 thoughts on “Top 10 Vestigial Organs In Human Body”

  1. My body hair is my first line of defense against biting bugs; they are (with their nerve rich follicles) very sensitive sensory organs that extend my sense of touch into the air around me. Just the air movements off a passing insect can be easily felt as they move the hair shafts and the hair shafts trigger the nerves in the follicles. Not only do I feel bugs with them, the busy, buzzy kind trigger an almost irresistable urge to make the sensations stop – by swiping, swatting or picking off the culprit.

    Goosebumps work as enhancers/amplifier of this sensory input by extending the distance beyond the skin to maximum, by reducing the dampening of hair shaft movements that comes from hairs laid against each other and, less directly by the phenomena where disturbing one or a few hairs during goosebumps causes surrounding hairs to move in sympathy, making indistinct sensations much more distinct. This probably predates hairs as fur and insulation.

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