Why Do We Have an Appendix?

The human appendix is a small, finger-shaped pouch attached to the caecum at the junction of the small and large intestines. Charles Darwin suggested it was a vestigial remnant of a larger cecum used by herbivorous ancestors to digest cellulose. However, modern research has revised this view. A 2007 study from Duke University proposed that the appendix acts as a "safe house" for beneficial gut bacteria, allowing the intestines to be repopulated after bouts of diarrhoea or illness. The appendix also contains lymphoid tissue and produces immunoglobulin A, suggesting a role in the immune system, particularly during early development.