Why Evolution Is True Jerry A Coyne Analysis

In chapter 3 of “Why Evolution Is True” by Jerry A. Coyne, he talks about remnants such as vestiges, embryos, and a bad design in which he describes manuscripts called palimpsests organisms of evolutionary history.
In evolution, a feature of a specie that was an adaptation in its ancestor but lost its usefulness are called vestiges. These no longer perform the function from when they first evolved because those parts may have been import to their ancestors but not to them. The author states, “In other words, our appendix is simply the remnant of an organ that was critically important to our leaf-eating ancestors, but of no real value to us” (Coyne, 2009, pg. 61). Another feature is called atavisms which is an individual who grows up to look like a reappearance of an ancestral trait. They express ancestral features but differ from vestigial traits due to them occurring less often. Coyne states, “They differ from vestigial traits because they occur only occasionally rather than in every individual” (Coyne, 2009, pg. 64). Not all these traits make sense in the theory of evolution but can provide sufficient evidence. …show more content…
This is another way we have evidence of relatives in evolution when finding that there are more closely related relatives. The author states, “We expect to find, in the genomes of many species, silenced, or “dead,” genes: genes that once were useful but are no longer intact or expressed” (Coyne, 2009, pg. 67). When another specie forms into another are basically genes that form ancestral structures. The author also talks about bad design meaning that organisms made by designers should not have imperfections but most of this is predicted of evolution. Coyne states, “Although organisms appear designed to fit their natural environments, the idea of perfect design is an illusion” (Coyne, 2009, pg. 81). Basically, that organisms were man made and not naturally