Vestigial structures are evolution’s leftovers — body parts that, through inheritance, have outlived the context in which they arose. Some of the most delightful reminders of the common ancestry we share with other animals, they show that the building blocks of the human body predate our species by hundreds of millions of years.
Proof of evolution that you can find on your own body
Joss Fong is a founding member of the Vox video team and a producer focused on science and tech. She holds a master’s degree in science, health, and environmental reporting from NYU.
Like this video? Subscribe to Vox on YouTube.
Forty-two percent of Americans say that humans were created in their present form within the past 10,000 years — a percentage that hasn't changed much since 1982, when Gallup started polling views on evolution.
Several lines of evidence, from the fossil record, comparative anatomy, and genetics, tell another story. But you don't have to dig through those mountains of research to find the footprints of evolution. As you can see in the video above, they're visible on your own body.
