Evolution: Residual Effects

by sarahlynn24

Lots of vestigial organs exist. In our own body, examples include our appendix, erector pili muscles, body hair, palmaris longus muscle in the forearm, and the auricularis muscles around the ear. Other examples include fake sexual activity in Whiptail lizards, the collapsed eyes of the Astyanax Mexicanus fish, and the residual hind leg bones in whales. See more here (1).

Vestigial doesn’t mean these organs or actions are completely devoid of all function today, just that they’re remnants of something that used to be larger or more useful in the past. And while I’ve read the YEC rebuttals, to me they sound like excuses. To me it makes the most sense to acknowledge vestigial remnants as tributes to our evolutionary past.

Footnotes:

(1). http://www.livescience.com/11317-top-10-useless-limbs-vestigial-organs.html