Study Finds the Appendix Has Evolved More Than 30 Times in Various Species and Could Play Useful Role in the Body
The appendix, once suspected of serving no purpose in the body, has evolved numerous times over the centuries in various species, a new study has found – providing some of the strongest evidence to date that the organ might have a function. In a new study published this month, an international team of researchers found that, across 50 species, the appendix evolved independently anywhere from 32 to 38 times. In most cases the organ's transformation was not due to a change in the animals' diets, The Huffington Post reported. The findings challenge the notion, first put forward by Charles Darwin, that the appendix is an outdated organ that, long ago, had a purpose when apes and human beings dined mostly on leaves. That diet, the theory went, required our anatomy to have a large cecum, from which the appendix protrudes, in order to digest plant matter. However, as the foods we ate became easier to break down, the cecum became less crucial and, through the years, shriveled up, Darwin hypothesized. But this new study threw that concept into question, finding the appendix has undergone evolutionary change in the absence of dietary shifts. Some scientists are questioning the number of times the appendix actually evolved, noting that some species were included in the study even though it's unclear whether they even have an appendix. If the questionable species are removed from the equation, that could mean the organ only evolved 18 times. Regardless, the study hints that the appendix could be useful, and the results are spurring scientists to wonder what its function could be. February 19, 2013 Copyright © 2013 Daily Mail
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