Scientists have answered the long-standing puzzle of human evolution by explaining why humans lack tails. Scientists have found a genetic link between human tail loss and a CNN-reported birth abnormality.
The Nature study found that humans lost their tails 25 million years ago when they genetically diverged from old-world monkeys. Bipedalism coincided with the greatest evolutionary change.
This discovery relies on Alu elements in DNA (“junk DNA”), which were previously deemed secondary. They can cause mutations by migrating into the DNA.
According to biological anthropologist Liza Shapiro, the study suggests that human tail loss and ape evolution occurred simultaneously, although it does not explain why.
He notes that human embryos have a tail in the womb that detaches naturally at the eighth week. It is about increasing our knowledge of human evolution and the genetic factors that regulate morphological changes, as well as showing how bipedalism has altered human anatomy and mobility.
