A small percentage of people are born with tiny holes above their ears. In technical terms, this is called a preauricular sinus.
The rarity of this sinus depends on where you live, but in some parts of Africa and Asia, around 4-10% of people are thought to have them.
And now scientists have revealed that any nodules, dents or dimples around the external ear – where the face and cartilage meet – could be an remnant of our evolutionary past.
Image via Instagram
Evolutionary Biologist, Neil Shubin, thinks the holes could be the remnants of fish gills.
And while they are nothing to worry about – these little quirks could be an interesting insight into our past, before we were human.
Read about other remnants from our ancestors in our How evolved are you article.
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