LIFE SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The pelvis and femur in whales are considered vestigial structures. These structures were inherited from ancestors that had a use for them, but are no longer used today. Whales evolved from animals that used to walk on land. Thus, these ancestors needed a pelvis and femur bones to do so.

Detailed explanation-2: -For a long time scientists figured that the bones are so small because they are vestigial, a shrunken evolutionary remnant from an ancestor that once walked on land. But now scientists have discovered that the tiny bones may actually play a huge role in whale reproduction.

Detailed explanation-3: -1: Whale Skeleton: The pelvic bones in whales are also a good example of vestigial evolution (whales evolved from four-legged land mammals and secondarily lost their hind legs).

Detailed explanation-4: -The pelvic bones of whales are “one of the classic examples of a vestigial structure, ‘’ said Otárola-Castillo.

Detailed explanation-5: -We call these unused structures without function vestigial structures. Other examples of vestigial structures are wings on flightless birds, leaves on some cacti, and hind leg bones in whales.