• Question: hello i am wondering: if we dont need our apendicx why do we have them in our body? and then why do people have them taken out.

    Asked by Ellouise and Caitlin <3 to Heather, Helen, Hugh, Jane, Julian on 18 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      We have them because the animals we evolved from had a use for a much bigger form of this to help digest certain plants.
      They may still have a minor use in our bodies, as they allow a sort of cul-de-sac where stuff gets lodged, and if you are very ill, sick and diarrhoea then when you get better, the appendix can sort of reset your gut back to how it was from its contents.

      However stuff can also get stuck in it, and start to decay, causing appendicitis, and requiring it to be removed.

    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      Great explanation 🙂 I think eventually we will all evolve so we don’t have an appendix. We still even have a coccyx – the tail bone! Though we do still need this in a minor way, like the appendix. It helps support us when we are sitting down apparently. Evolution clearly takes its time…

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