What does the appendix even do? When we think about this little finger-shaped pouch hanging off of our digestive tract, it’s often as a ticking time bomb. Every year, a little over 40,000 Canadians develop appendicitis, a life-threatening inflammation of the appendix. Once the little bugger is removed, we are told our health won’t change. The appendix after all is a vestigial organ, a useless fossil in our abdomen.
The last twenty years of research, however, have changed our perspective on this tiny organ. It may not be worthless after all.
It’s been hypothesized to be a safe house.
The idea is that the appendix, which is known to host bacteria, would serve as a back-up. Following diarrhea, its bacterial content would recolonize the colon to bring the ill person back to normal. In an industrialized country with proper sewage and clean drinking water, this is a minor issue, but pre-industrialization, it would have been particularly beneficial.
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That’s the theory, anyway. It would make sense for the appendix to have or have had some sort of function, as it independently evolved in many species over time.
