Vestigial organs. Unnecessary and vestigial organs in the human body Organs that exist but are not needed

The wings of a flightless bird and the eyes of a deep-sea fish are all manifestations of an evolutionary quirk called “vestigation.” Our ancestors also left us a rich legacy of such excesses. Some organs and parts of the body, which seem to be unnecessary, are steadily passed down from generation to generation and remind us of the animal origin of man. Today we will talk about the most famous rudiments of man, and what kind of future is in store for them.

Coccyx

The most famous rudiment inherited from ancient ancestors is the coccyx (coccyx) - a triangular bone formed by the fusion of the last 4-5 vertebrae of the spine. They once formed a tail, which for modern primates remains not only an organ for maintaining balance, but also serves to transmit social signals. As man became an upright creature, all these functions were transferred to the forelimbs - and the need for a tail disappeared.

Scientists believe that the tail disappeared in the bulk of our population more than a million years ago. However, in the early stages of development, the human embryo has a tail process, which is often retained. Approximately one in fifty thousand babies is born with a tail, which is usually easily removed without harm to the body.

Little toes

The toes were used for grasping - just like the hands. Since people began to walk more than climb trees, the toes began to decrease in size, and the previously perpendicularly set big toe became straightened out. Now our feet are unable to grasp even small branches, and evolution has almost eliminated our little toes.

While the other toes (especially the big toe) serve to maintain stability of the body when walking, the small toes do not have any function. We would hardly even notice the disappearance of the little finger! For this reason, and also because of the problems from its useless existence (hitting against any protruding object and rubbing while walking), we can expect that people of the future will have only four toes.

Body hair

For many reasons, the human body has already lost most of its hair - and over time, most likely, humanity will become increasingly bald. Women in many cultures are considered more attractive if they lack hair on their legs and other parts of their bodies. Since the absence of hair provides an individual with an advantage in sexual attractiveness, over time women may evolve in such a way that unwanted hair will be completely absent from their bodies. But this trick is unlikely to work with men - after all, the presence of precisely those hormones that are responsible for the growth of mustaches and beards makes them attractive to the fair sex.

It is also worth remembering about the goosebumps that occur when the pilomotor reflex is triggered - in other words, a reaction to cold and danger. In this case, the spinal cord excites peripheral nerve endings, which raise the hair. So in case of cold, raised hair allows you to retain more thermal air inside the cover. If danger arises, the increase in hair gives the animal a more massive appearance. In humans, this reflex remains a rudiment, since thick hair was lost during the process of evolution.

Male nipples

One early scientific theory suggested that nipples were a sign of a man's ability to breastfeed, which was supposedly lost during evolution. However, later studies showed that none of the males of our ancestors had such a body function.

It is currently generally accepted that nipples in humans (as well as in other mammals) are formed at that stage of embryonic development when its sex is not differentiated. And only later, when the embryo begins to independently produce hormones, can it be determined who will be born - a boy or a girl.

Appendix

Not so long ago there was an opinion that the vermiform appendix of the cecum had ceased to play any role in the human body. There is a theory that for our ancestors it was like a second stomach - it digested nut husks, bark and tree branches. And, since today we eat more “refined”, there is no need for it.

However, today scientists no longer doubt that they hastened to classify the appendix as a vestigial organ. It will not disappear anywhere, because it still performs a number of important functions in our body. Firstly, it is necessary for the development of immunity. If the appendix is ​​removed in childhood, the child will not develop immunity.

Secondly, the appendix acts as a reservoir for digestive bacteria, where they multiply. However, the modern diet of many people is too low in fiber, which is why the natural functioning of this organ is disrupted. The result is inflammation of the appendix (appendicitis) - alas, it accounts for up to 90% of all surgical operations in the abdominal cavity.

Wisdom teeth

Third molars, better known as “wisdom teeth,” got their name because they erupt much later than all other teeth - at the age when a person becomes “wiser” (16-30 years). The main function of wisdom teeth is chewing; they serve to grind rough food.

However, in every third person on Earth, they grow incorrectly - they do not have enough space on the jaw arch, which, due to changes in our diet, is evolving towards reduction. As a result, the “gift of nature” turns into a huge problem: wisdom teeth either begin to grow to the sides or injure their neighbors. In such cases they have to be removed. Often this is done in the same way if you want to straighten your bite with braces.

Scientists believe that within 1000 years, wisdom teeth will gradually disappear. But that is not all. Research shows that over the past 100,000 years, human teeth have halved in size. Human jaws have also become smaller, as they no longer have to be supported by huge fangs. Therefore, we can safely say that the size of teeth will continue to decrease.

Our body is a complex system that consists of various organs that perform one or another function, for example the heart, which pumps our blood and it is impossible to live without it. Meanwhile, each of us also has a number of organs or their remains, as well as atavisms (signs that make us similar to the animal world), which do not participate in the life of the body and are not needed. Which organs in the human body superfluous and unnecessary?

Such organs can cause a number of troubles or, on the contrary, make us unique. Let's consider what Mother Nature forgot to remove from our body in the process of evolution, that is, unnecessary organs.

• Appendix. Familiar to many. Once upon a time it participated in hematopoiesis, producing leukocytes - white blood cells. Now it does not have this function, but it is a source of infection. It may even come down to surgery.

• Non-working muscles are muscles that do not perform any function.

a) subclavian - from the collarbone to the first rib;
b) palmar - between the wrist and elbow. Once upon a time it was she who helped our ancestors hang on the vine;
c) plantaris muscle. It is with its help that some people grasp objects with their toes;
d) external muscles on the ears. Dodgers wiggle their ears, surprising those around them. And in the distant past, our ancestors caught sounds this way.

• Cervical ribs, which give the neck a swan-like appearance but can be an additional source of pain.

• Coccyx. You guessed that this is the remnant of the tail, with the help of which our distant relatives kept their balance and showed their mood. Now it is only a problem upon impact.

• Although we no longer look like monkeys, the vegetation on our bodies reminds us of our kinship with the animal world. Men have the most reminders. Some women also suffer from this.

• It’s good that a whole system has now been developed to combat excess hair. Previously, hair warmed and protected the skin of our ancestors.

• With bristling fur, the animals frighten their enemies. In our case, this manifests itself during chills. The muscles lift the hair follicles - “goose bumps” appear.

• Men have nipples and something similar to a woman's uterus. In turn, in women, next to the ovaries there are male vas deferens, which tend to become inflamed.

• Who hasn't encountered wisdom teeth? We are not becoming wiser, but there may be unpleasant sensations as they grow.

• Drooping brow ridges, especially noticeable in men.

• Fangs are also greetings from a past animal life.

• A long nose is inherent only to humans, in order to warm the inhaled air. But this advantage adds to nasal diseases.

• Our nose has long been unable to distinguish the full variety of smells, but some can boast of this. Such people work as “sniffers”.

But let's not anger Her Majesty Nature. Maybe she knows better how a person should be structured. Maybe everything is natural and there is nothing superfluous in our organ system.

Man is a perfect creation of Nature. And she is wise and prudent. And for sure everything that is given to a person has a special meaning. However, for one reason or another, humanity stubbornly tries to challenge this truth, forgetting that the body of each of us is a complex system, interference with which sometimes leads to disastrous results.

A century ago, venerable scientists were convinced that Nature “forgot” in the process of evolution to remove more than 200 “useless” biological structures from our body, and their loss through surgery will only improve our health. For example, our great compatriot biologist Ilya Mechnikov believed that there are too many “extra” intestines in the human body, and the French doctor Franz Glenard generally argued that some of our organs are located completely incorrectly. Based on this view, until the 50s of the last century, operations were carried out to “reshape” the human body in a new, “correct” way. Entire segments of the large intestine were mercilessly thrown out, the tailbone was removed, and although the patients felt worse after such an intervention, the views of scientists did not change.

Fortunately, gradually in the scientific world the thesis that the human body is harmonious, like everything created by Nature, and we do not have “extra” organs, has become dominant. “Wait,” one of us will object, “but what about the atavisms and rudiments that we have known about since school? There are still “unnecessary” organs in our body!” This is not entirely true. I would say that there are insufficiently studied organs and tissues, but that’s another story.

About “unnecessary” organs

Purely theoretically, these are considered to be those organs without which a person can live. Just like he can live with one kidney, lung, arm or leg. But it is unlikely that anyone will seriously argue that such “losses” do no harm and improve the body. However, the topic of “unnecessary” organs still requires more detailed consideration.

All relatively speaking useless organs can be divided into several groups. The first includes some biological formations that have now lost their functionality. In particular, non-working muscles and ribs. These parts of the body are the heritage of distant ancestors. Here is their list:
● subclavian muscle – from the collarbone to the first rib;
● the plantaris muscle, with which a person can still grasp objects with their toes;
● external muscles on the ears, by moving which our ancestors more sensitively caught sounds, and some of their descendants use them to shock others today.

The second group consists of the so-called surrounding features. They cannot be ignored; they were also inherited from our ancestors. For example, hair on the skin clearly reminds us of our kinship with those from whom we descended. Hair used to warm and protect our great-great-grandparents. Most modern men and women try to get rid of them as unnecessary and for aesthetic reasons.

Greetings from our ancestors

Another feature of a person is associated with hair, which is familiar to everyone firsthand. Who among us has not experienced the feeling of “a chill on the skin” or the allegorical “hair standing on end”? It turns out that these rudimentary phenomena can be explained quite simply and testify to our kinship with our “smaller brothers.” For centuries, in a state of fear or in a frozen state, the skin of animals reflexively “stands on end,” thereby playing a terrifying role or increasing the efficiency of heating. In our country, as a reminder of a former close relationship, “goose bumps” appear from time to time. At the same time, the muscles lift the hair follicles and it is no longer the hair that “stands on end”, since in the process of human evolution they disappeared from most of the surface of his body, but pimples simply appear.

Fangs are also a “hello” from a past animal life. We, people, have no need for them, except as an element of “intimidation” in films about vampires and werewolves.

The distinctive features of modern man include the structure of the nose. The length of this organ, formed over centuries, is explained by its ability to warm inhaled air before entering the respiratory system. Among our ancestors, the nose played another important role - it identified a huge number of odors. We do not have this ability in full, however, there are people among us who have retained it. Thanks to their sensitive sense of smell, they work in rare professions in the field of perfume and wine production.

Does a person need an appendix and tonsils?

There are organs in the human body that, despite their apparent uselessness, perform very important functions. The notorious appendix, according to recent studies by American scientists, is not at all a rudimentary appendix and a “provoker of inflammation.” As it turns out, this organ makes a significant contribution to the fight against cancer cells. The appendix is ​​an important part of the human immune system, participating in homeostasis: it helps maintain balance in the functioning of all organs and tissues. The appendix consists of lymphoid tissue and produces a special hormone-like substance that regulates the peristalsis of the large intestine. And although there is a very popular joke among surgeons that “in any unclear situation, remove the appendix,” not a single doctor will do this “just in case.” Moreover, modern diagnostics make it possible to precisely determine the source of inflammation.

Another paired organ, considered unnecessary for a long time, turned out to be one of the main defenders of our health from germs and viruses. We are talking about tonsils, or tonsils, which act as a kind of “roadblock” for infection. Palatine tonsils and adenoids are loose lumps of lymphoid tissue. Even 30 years ago it was believed that they were needed only for the production of mucus. They cut them out decisively and quite often. Today it has become known that the tonsils have special depressions - crypts, in which the antigenic composition of all substances from inhaled air and consumer products is determined. In case of danger, the received signal activates the production of protective proteins in the tonsils, widely known as immunoglobulin and interferon. If the tonsils are removed, then germs and viruses can easily enter the body and feel quite comfortable there. Therefore, today operations to remove tonsils are carried out only in exceptional situations and strictly according to indications.

Is it possible to live without a spleen or tailbone?

Very often, due to injuries, the spleen ruptures and is removed. At the same time, at first glance, nothing changes in the body. So maybe God is with her? But no! It turned out that the spleen carries out immune control of the blood. And it is also a natural filter that cleanses the blood. This is why without a spleen a person recovers more slowly and looks older than his peers. And is it possible after this to call this organ “superfluous”?

There is another mysterious formation in our body - the thymus gland, or thymus, which was also considered “useless” for a long time. Subsequently, it turned out that this organ is responsible for our immunity at the level of converting stem cells into T-lymphocytes that destroy viruses and bacteria. In addition, the thymus is the “leading employee” of the endocrine system, producing the hormone thymosin, similar to insulin. It is quite possible that in the near future, based on this discovery, it will be possible to solve the problem of diabetes mellitus.

I think each of us knows that the tailbone is the remnant of the tail, with the help of which our distant ancestors kept their balance and demonstrated their mood. Can this “tail” be considered useless? And again the answer is “no,” since the pelvic muscles that support the internal organs are attached to the tailbone. In people with the coccyx removed, they droop and problems with the spine begin.

And finally, a few words about the so-called wisdom teeth. Do not rush to remove these “rudiments”: they can replace unsuitable neighboring teeth when chewing. However, today many people simply do not have them, even in their infancy. Of course, we can treat the gallbladder and colon as something worthless, because people can live normally without them, but let’s not anger Her Majesty Nature. She still knows better how a person should be structured!

It's hard to believe that a person has organs that are truly useless to the body. However, when it comes to the appendix or wisdom teeth, we don't think twice about removing them. Here is a list of the 10 most useless organs in our body.

1. Male nipples

You may have never thought about it, but they don't serve any purpose. So why are they there? Most likely, it's all about attractive appearance.

2. Appendix

Darwin argued that at one time the appendix was important to the body, especially to the first herbivorous mammals. However, the father of the theory of evolution also admitted that today the appendix has very little, if not non-existent, benefit. This is, first of all, because people have learned to cook; as a result, food is much easier to digest by the body.

3. Wisdom teeth

Let's be real - cavemen didn't brush and floss, so it's pretty clear they lost teeth throughout their lives. Therefore, wisdom teeth were truly useful, but only until the time when dentistry became widespread. Now their growth is causing more problems than they are worth.

4. Pilomotor reflex

It's a contraption that makes your skin crawl. This is a good indicator that you feel some kind of emotional arousal, but other than this, the named reflex is not responsible for anything else in the body. It was important to primitive people, who needed to look bigger and scarier in extreme situations, but modern people don't have that much hair, so the only thing we're left with is the feeling of goose bumps.

5. Coccyx

Another useless organ, which consists of several fused vertebrae in the lower part of the spine, which are left over from the time when our distant ancestors had tails.

6. Tonsils

As with the appendix, the tonsils are now doing more harm than good. They increase in size during illness. And although few of us still have them after 30 years, no changes occur for those who have them removed.

7. Adenoids

They, like the tonsils, are prone to enlargement and infection. Their purpose in the body is to trap bacteria. However, they decrease in size with age, so people do not notice any changes after they are removed.

8. Sinuses

The purpose of the sinus remains a mystery to doctors. We only know that they exist. There are theories that the sinuses insulate the eyes or determine the pitch and tone of our voice.

9. Body hair

Almost three million years ago, we were hairier, which had a purely practical function - maintaining heat. However, with the development of human skill in sewing clothes, this feature is no longer necessary.

10. Third eyelid

It was originally part of the nictitating membrane. The third eyelid is located next to the tear streams. And although some animals, such as lizards, sharks and chickens, still make full use of this membrane, humans no longer need it.

The wings of a flightless bird and the eyes of a deep-sea fish are all manifestations of an evolutionary quirk called “vestigation.” The existence of such excesses in the body is not justified by anything, but is steadily transmitted from generation to generation. We will talk about the most famous human rudiments and how they arose.

Coccyx

The most famous rudiment inherited from ancient ancestors is the coccyx (coccyx), a triangular bone formed by the fusion of 4-5 vertebrae. It once formed the tail, an organ for maintaining balance that also serves to transmit social signals. As man became an upright creature, all these functions were transferred to the forelimbs, and the need for a tail disappeared.

However, in the early stages of development, the human embryo has a tail process, which is often retained. About one in fifty thousand babies are born with a tail, which can be easily removed without harm to the body.

Appendix

The vermiform appendix of the cecum (appendix vermiformis) has long ceased to play any role in the human body. Presumably, it served for long-term digestion of solid foods - for example, cereals. The second theory is that the appendix acted as a reservoir for digestive bacteria, where they multiplied.

The adult appendix ranges from 2 to 20 centimeters in length, but in most cases its length is approximately ten centimeters. Inflammation of the appendix (appendicitis) is a very common disease, accounting for 89 percent of all abdominal surgeries.

Wisdom tooth

Third molars (molars) got their name because they erupt much later than all other teeth, at the age when a person becomes “wiser” - 16-30 years. The main function of wisdom teeth is chewing; they serve to grind food.

However, in every third person on Earth they grow incorrectly - they do not have enough space on the jaw arch, as a result of which they either begin to grow to the sides or injure their neighbors. In such cases, wisdom teeth have to be removed.

Vitamin C synthesis

A lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in the body can lead to scurvy, which can lead to death. However, humans cannot independently synthesize this vitamin in their bodies, unlike most primates and other mammals.

Scientists have long assumed that humans had an organ responsible for the production of ascorbic acid, but confirmation of this was discovered only in 1994. Then a pseudogene was found responsible for the production of vitamin C, similar to that found in Guinea pigs. But in modern humans this function is disabled at the genetic level.

Vomeronasal organ (VNO)

Pheromones play a dominant role in the social behavior of animals. With their help, females attract males, and the gentlemen themselves mark the territory under their control. Most emotions are accompanied by the release of pheromones - fear, anger, peace, passion. A person relies more on the verbal and visual components of social communication, so the role of pheromone recognition is minimized.

Goose pimples

Goosebumps (cutis anserina) occur when the pilomotor reflex is triggered. The main motivators of this reflex are cold and danger. In this case, the spinal cord excites peripheral nerve endings, which raise the hair.

So in case of cold, raised hair allows you to retain more thermal air inside the cover. If danger arises, the increase in hair gives the animal a more massive appearance. In humans, the pilomotor reflex remains a vestige, since thick hair was lost during evolution

Male nipples

One early scientific theory suggested that nipples were a sign of a man's ability to breastfeed, which was lost during evolution. However, later studies showed that none of the males of our ancestors had such a body function.

Currently, it is generally accepted that nipples are formed at that stage of embryo development when its sex is not determined. And only later, when the embryo begins to independently produce hormones, can it be determined who will be born - a boy or a girl.