appendix

India
September 7, 2011 12:41pm CST
is it true that the appendix is our body is actually the tail that our ancestors used to have?
3 responses
Galena
@Galena (9110)
•
7 Sep 11
surely that would be your coccyx, rather than your appendix. the little bit of extra spine that sits inside the pelvic cage, and no longer exits the body IN MOST PEOPLE. except for the people that are still born with a tail. I think Nick Cave was born with a tail. I remember reading an interview where he talked about it, and said it is not that uncommon in australia. how true that is I couldn't tell you. it's a similar thing to the coccyx though. a body part that has become smaller due to not being so necessary any more. as mentioned, a lot of herbivores have much more developed appendix than we do.
Galena
@Galena (9110)
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8 Sep 11
just a bad way of wording that it's inside the body, rather than out. I think we've all seen a skeleton. even if only a plastic school one. it curls down and inwards, as part of that area, rather than emerging from the body like most other animals tails do.
jazzsue58
@jazzsue58 (2666)
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8 Sep 11
Galena isn't saying the coccyx and appendix are the same - just that they are both redundant. Although you're right about the coccyx being at the end of the spine. It doesn't sit inside the pelvic cage. Not even if you do advanced yoga classes!
koperty3
@koperty3 (1876)
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7 Sep 11
Well. Appendix is not a tail and it never was a tail. Appendix is part of our digestion system and its not have any function. Horses got very big appendix and it help digests fibre. Did you know that some children are born with a tail? My friend was born like this and she had her tail removed few days after she was born.
jazzsue58
@jazzsue58 (2666)
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8 Sep 11
Our ancestors ate totally unprocessed diets, with a lot of grains with husks on, which fits with the horse point. Perhaps it also had a function in water re-adsorbtion, backing up the job of the large bowel? It's a redundant (not useless) organ which may yet prove essential in the future - when we turn our backs on highly processed food. And thus appendicitis.
koperty3
@koperty3 (1876)
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8 Sep 11
If it would be true many people after their appendix was removed would have problems with immune system and this is not the case. My appendix was removed many years ago and my immune system and my digestion system is fine.
eyecatcher_bsn
@eyecatcher_bsn (16)
• Philippines
24 Sep 11
maybe some claim that its the tail coz its really looks like a tail but in anatomy speaking appendix is located near the junction of the small intestine and large intestine.