Are vestigial organs exception to lamarckism?

Dear student,

Lamarckism: Jean Baptist Lamarck was a French scientist who gave a theory of evolution in the 19th century. In his theory, he stated two facts –

1. Use and disuse: the body parts or organs that are not being used gradually disappear whereas the parts that are in vigorous use develop more. For example, the neck of giraffe grew taller by vigorous use of it for eating leaves from taller trees.
2. Inheritance of acquired characters: The characters acquired by an organism during the lifetime can be automatically passed on to its children. For example, the long neck of the giraffe which is acquired for reaching taller branches is inherited from one generation to another.

Vestigial organs refer to the organs or parts of an organism which were once important and useful in the organisms evolutionary past, i.e., important to their ancestors but by time has been greatly reduced from the original ancestral form and becomes less functional and less important for that species. These organs may be reduced or becomes altered in their functioning during the process of evolution. For example human appendix.

Therefore, the vestigial organs are not exceptions to Lamarckism.

Regards