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Tails are useful in many ways, but — unlike these vervet monkeys pictured in Lake Mburo National Park in Uganda — humans' closest primate relatives lost the appendages about 25 million years ago. (Photo credit: imageBROKER/Shutterstock via CNN Newsource) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Humans have many wonderful qualities, but we lack something that’s a common feature among most animals with backbones: a tail. Exactly why that is has been something of a mystery. Tails are useful for balance, propulsion, communication and defense against biting insects. However, humans and our closest primate relatives — the great apes — said farewell to tails about 25...

Most people think little about their appendix, and that's only natural, because the function of the appendix has been considered unknown - until now. New research supports that our appendixes might actually be useful after all, and doctors may soon be changing their tune about this neglected organ. The appendix, which looks like a slim tube measuring between two and four inches long, sits in our lower right abdomen. It was originally thought to be vestigial - a part of the body that evolution forgot. Popular belief was that this leftover organ was originally part of a fermenting chamber in...

Is the dog’s ‘collar bone’ vestigial? by Philip Bell Published: 27 February 2014 (GMT+10) In comparison to human beings, dogs have a rather different shoulder design, and the same applies to many other carnivorous and hoofed animals too, such as and cats and horses. The shoulder bones appear somewhat disconnected from the rest of the skeleton and dogs don’t have the obvious collar bone (clavicle) that we humans have. The tiny canine clavicle has a variety of sizes and shapes in adult dogs1 and some evolutionists have argued that it is rudimentary; implying that it’s now a largely ‘useless leftover’...

Evolution's "vestigial organ" argument debunked How many have been taught in school about our body's supposed "vestigial organs"? The standard definition of a vestigial organ is a body part that was once useful in a species' ancestral past but has now become virtually useless. Evolutionists have used the vestigial-organ argument for decades to show the supposed evolution of animal and human bodies. They claimed that vestigial or diminishingly useful organs, which Charles Darwin called rudimentary, proved that bodies had evolved from more primitive forms. However, research has shown the supposed vestigial organs or structures of the human body—such as...