How do vestigial organs provide evidence of evolution?
What will be an ideal response?
Vestigial organs are the nonfunctional remains of formerly functional organs. They provide evidence that the organism with the vestigial organ evolved from an ancestor that had a functional organ. For example, the Texas blind salamander has tiny vestigial eyes that are nonfunctional—in fact, they are covered by skin. These vestigial eyes suggest that the Texas blind salamander evolved from an organism that had functional eyes. Once the salamanders started to live in lightless caves, there was no advantage to maintaining functional eyes (and functional eyes, being fragile, may even have been a liability), and the once functional eyes lost crucial elements until they became nonfunctional. If the Texas blind salamander had been designed from scratch, there would be no reason for it to have vestigial eyes.
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Indicate whether the statement is true or false
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Indicate whether the statement is true or false