Biology / Unit 8 Bio 1661 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Vestigial Structures
Captions available
The idea
A vestigial structure is a homologous structure that persists despite serving little or no function today, a remnant of an ancestral form.
In practice
Hind leg bones in whales and wings on flightless birds are vestigial, inherited from ancestors that used them functionally.
Where people slip
A vestigial structure's reduced function does not mean it is not homologous to a functional structure elsewhere.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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