Question

Short/Long answer type questions
What is a vestigial organ? How does the presence of vestigial organs support the doctrine of organic evolution?

Answer 1

The human body has a few non-functional parts. We no longer rely on these organs or structures for any serious function, or they have atrophied or degenerated to the point that they don’t serve the function they used to. These are known as vestigial organs.

Charles Darwin pointed to these vestigial organs in humans and other animals as evidence for evolution. Eventually, by noting how the vestigial organs in one species were similar to functioning organs in other species, biologists concluded two otherwise dissimilar creatures must have shared a common ancestor. According to the concept of organic evolution, the present day animals and plants have been evolved by a process of gradual change in the earlier simple forms of life, which took place in millions of years. When these life forms changed they lost the use of some organs and eventually became vestigial. Hence the presence of vestigial organs supports the doctrine of organic evolution.