How do vestigial structures relate to evolution?
1 Answer
Vestigial structure relate to evolution because it shows how species evolve, keep most of the traits that are beneficial and start to lose structures that they no longer need.
Explanation:
Vestigial structures are structures that are no longer useful for the current organism but it was of some use for its ancestors.
One example is the appendix: For modern humans, it isn't much use but it is believed that for our ancestors, the appendix was much larger and it was mostly used for the consumption of woody material such as tree bark.
Vestigial structures help prove evolution because they show that we all evolve from our ancestors. Natural selection also plays a role here because we keep the traits that are useful to us and we start to lose traits (such as appendix) which are no longer useful. Another example would be how human ancestors had tails before and since we longer needed them, over time, while in the fetus, the tail is absorbed by the body (yes we have tails when we are a fetus).
