Our bodies really are wonderful tools. In fact, it is so amazing that I do not think most of us ever fully understand what a miracle of natural evolution we are.
When you think about it, we went from beings that looked a lot like chimpanzees to walking, talking beings that can build complex societies and send things to other planets in what seems like the blink of an eye (when you think about how old the universe is).
One of the most interesting things about how we evolved as a species is that we are pretty much the same now as we were, say, 20,000 years ago… Even though the world our ancestors lived in is very different from the world we live in now.
Something even more interesting is that we are still evolving, even though the change happens so slowly and over so many generations that we rarely notice it.
That is why we wanted to draw your attention to the connection between a tendon in your wrist that does not seem important and the trip humans are still making as they move forward into the future.
Tendon and evolution
This tendon is connected to an old muscle known as the palmaris longus. The palmaris longus has been slowly lost in 10-15% of people these days.
The study we were able to find says that the palmaris longus is very important for animals like lemurs and monkeys that use their forearms to move. The muscle is an important part of their bodies because it helps them do things like move from branch to branch better.
Now this is where things get interesting. Gorillas and other ground-dwelling apes have slowly lost the ability because they do not use their wrists to move around like they may have in the past. At the same time, people have begun to lose the tendon that connects to the palmaris longus.
As we already said, evolution moves slowly, so almost 90% of humans still have the tendon, even though there is proof that it is slowly going away.
You can do a quick test at home to see if you still have yours. Put your wrist on a flat surface so that the palm of your hand faces up. Then, touch your pinky finger to your thumb and lift your hand off the surface a little.
Did you do it? There you have it. If you can see a clear band in the middle of your wrist, that is your tendon. If you don’t, you are probably one of the few people who have already stopped needing the tendon at all.