human fetuses have a vomeronasal organ, though no one knows whether it's functional. You can no more ask a fetus about these things than a python. Rawson surmises that the organ is a holdover from when we were crawling out of the primordial soup,* and we needed to sense the chemicals in the environment and know which ones to go toward or away from.
In her book "Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal," Mary Roach discusses the presence of the vomeronasal organ in human fetuses, noting that its functionality remains a mystery. This anatomical feature is believed to be a remnant from our early evolutionary past, when it was crucial for survival as it helped ancestral creatures detect environmental chemicals. Understanding how this organ worked could shed light on our sensory evolution.
Roach humorously suggests that just like a python, a fetus cannot communicate its experiences, leaving us to speculate about the purpose of this organ. The vomeronasal organ likely played a significant role in guiding early organisms toward beneficial substances and away from harmful ones. This historical perspective highlights the complexities of human development and our connection to earlier forms of life.
