Vestigial Structures

• Vestigial structures are features that were adaptations for an organism's ancestor but have evolved to no longer perform their original function due to a change in environment.

Example of a Vestigial structure:

Pelvic Bones of Whales Info:

If you didn’t know, whales are mammals that evolved from land dwelling ancestors, and those ancestors had fully functional pelvic bones. Over time, as whales adapted to life in water, their pelvic bones became much smaller and lost their original function since whales don’t use them for walking or supporting their body on land. The pelvic bones are still there, but they no longer serve the same purpose.