Have you ever thought about the fact that one day, we’ll have useless human body parts?

Some scientists say that humans were created to hunt, jump, and climb things in order to get food and tackle their daily activities. Basically, what they say is that humans were made for having an active lifestyle, not sitting for 8 hours in an office chair and eating pre-made food.

Maybe that’s why we have quite a few useless human body parts. They serve no purpose for us now, but they were surely special for our ancestors.

Let’s take the appendix, for example. We all know that it’s one of the useless human body parts, although some studies say that it’s actually a storage space for good bacteria.

In many cases, the appendix gets so inflamed that it breaks and causes unbearable amounts of pain to the patient. The only way the victim can get rid of the suffering is through surgical removal of the organ.

But the appendix isn’t the only useless human body part, and in today’s article, we’ll talk more about all of these organs that can either be in our bodies or not, but they surely don’t serve any purpose.

As an evolutionary anthropologist at Boston College said, these useless human body parts are actually evolutionary leftovers, as the specialist likes to refer to them. While they serve no purpose, they are harmless to modern humans, so there’s no need to be scared.

Do you want to take a look at these useless human body parts we don’t need in our lives? Then let’s begin, because there are many insights we have to cover!

1. Human tail

Did you know that human embryos develop a tiny tail around 5 to 8 weeks after conception? While the tail disappears by the time the children are born, the remaining vertebrae combine to form the tailbone or the coccyx.

Research says that thousands of years ago, tailbones were useful for our ancestors because they offered mobility and balance support, but when humans learned to walk upright, those tails started to shrink more and more.

There are many useless human body parts, such as the coccyx, that now have no purpose. But what’s interesting about this topic is that some doctors say that they saw infants born with a vestigial tail. While these cases are extremely rare, the tails are removed by specialists through simple surgery.

2. The pyramidalis muscle

We’ll now talk about the second one of these useless human body parts, which is the pyramidalis muscle. This one is located in the lower abdomen and is in the shape of a triangle. There are people who have from zero to two of them, but they don’t serve any purpose.

According to doctors, the pyramidalis muscle can help with contracting the linea alba, but it’s not mandatory for the way an individual’s abdominal muscles normally work.

If you’re one of those people who don’t have any pyramidalis muscles, there’s no need to worry, because roughly 20% of people don’t have any, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

3. The appendix

We already talked about the appendix when we started chatting about these useless human body parts, but we didn’t say a lot about it. Scientists say that many years ago, the appendix was useful for helping people digest plants that contained a lot of cellulose.

Moreover, plant-eating vertebrates still need the appendix to help them process plants, but this organ isn’t part of our human digestive system.

Researchers said that given the fact that people are starting to eat more diverse foods and targeting meat, humans don’t need those complicated and long intestinal tracts anymore.

However, there are a few studies that say that the appendix stores some useful gut bacteria, but they’re not sure if this was always the purpose for this or if this was a new thing the appendix learned.

4. Powerful jaws

A long time ago, people’s diets were completely different than they are today, and they had powerful jaws to help them chew the food they were consuming. But now that our diets have shifted towards softer foods, cooked grains, and food sources that are easier on the teeth as well as our stomachs, we don’t need the same power in our jaws.

That’s why people’s jaws are much smaller now, and some of them can’t even fit all of their wisdom teeth properly. Scientists say that molars are generally used for grinding, but given the fact that our diets have drastically changed throughout the years, we pretty much don’t need them anymore.

5. The palmaris longus muscle

The palmaris longus muscle is also part of the useless human body parts, and scientists say that roughly 10% of individuals don’t have it. If you don’t know what this muscle is, here’s how you can spot it: Rest the back of your wrist on a flat surface, such as a table, and connect your thumb to your cute pinky. You might immediately notice a band of muscle popping up on your wrist; that’s the palmaris longus, which is a vestigial muscle.

Scientists say that this tiny muscle helped our ancestors climb trees and maybe even helped them with their grip. However, things changed when humans started walking on two feet, and the muscle quickly had no purpose anymore, just like many other useless human body parts.

PS: Your grip and your ability to climb trees won’t be affected by the presence or absence of this muscle!

6. Auricular muscles

Auricular muscles also make up part of these useless human body parts. Even though they were normally able to control the visible part of the ear, humans lost their capacity to use them. However, these muscles aren’t completely without purpose because other mammals use them to detect potential predators and prey.

But that is not all, because the auricular muscles can help mammals localize sound and aid them in expressing their emotions. Cats, for instance, can move their ears to hear well, but humans have flexible necks, so there’s no need for flexible ears either.

But hey, there are some humans who can have a blast wiggling their ears, but that’s all, folks; there’s nothing else we can do!

7. The plica semilunaris

We’re almost at the end of this talk about useless human body parts, but we still have something to say. The last thing on our list is the plica semilunaris, also known as the third eyelid, which is a fold of tissue found on the inside corner of your eye. These tiny muscles are used by many animals to protect their eyes, but humans don’t have any use for them.

Different mammals, as well as reptiles and birds, can use these membranes that are located on their eyes to keep them free of any germs, bacteria, and debris, and it also helps keep their eyes moist and healthy.

Researchers say that they don’t know exactly why humans don’t have plica semilunaris anymore, but it doesn’t matter because they’re useless human body parts anyway.

Even if researchers say that these organs don’t help people anymore, it’s all about the theory of evolution. People developed over the years, and some of the things that were important for our ancestors are now useless human body parts for us.

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