EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Pythons and boa constrictors have tiny hind leg bones buried in muscles toward their tail ends. Such features, either useless or poorly suited to performing specific tasks, are described as vestigial. They are also intriguing evidence of the evolutionary histories of species.

Detailed explanation-2: -Snake ancestors that lived nearly 100 million years ago, had legs and a cheekbone which have disappeared entirely in their modern day descendants, according to a study which examined fossils of an ancient rear-limbed reptile called Najash rionegrina.

Detailed explanation-3: -Snakes used to wander the Earth on legs about 150 million years ago, before they shifted from strut to slither. Now, two scientists have pinpointed the genetic process that caused snakes to lose their legs.

Detailed explanation-4: -Pelvic spurs are the externally visible portion of the vestigial remnants of legs found on each side of the cloaca in primitive snakes, such as boas and pythons. The remnants of a pelvis and femur, which have no connection with the spine, simply “float” in the muscle mass.

Detailed explanation-5: -Examples of vestigial organs in humans usually include the appendix, the coccyx (tail bone), and the tonsils. Body hair, wisdom teeth, nipples on males, nictitating membrane of eye, tonsils are also the vestigial organs of humans.