Throughout this manuscript, we define the anatomy of an organism as the sum of its body parts and structures. We define the morphology of an anatomical structure as the sum of those characteristics (shape, size, texture, etc.) that describe its form (Greek μορφή, morphe) of that structure (Wenzel and Zaharia 2012). These same words often also refer to the study of comparative vertebrate anatomy and morphology (Miriam Webster dictionary; AAA website). Therefore, we capitalize Anatomy and Morphology when we refer to the scientific fields, and use lower case anatomy and morphology when they refer to a specific organism or structure. For the rest of this manuscript, we use the term Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy to include the field of Vertebrate Morphology.
In health-related fields, the misconception that humans are unique among vertebrates leads to medical thinking that is often focused on single systems. Yet the principles of integration apply to humans as well. Recent advances in biomedical science, for example, have established the gut-brain axis (Stilling et al. 2014; Cryan et al. 2019), and conditions such as endometriosis that affect multiple organ systems are treated as isolated gynecological dysfunctions when an integrative comparative approach would have sped therapeutic discovery and improved the lives of millions.
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Understanding the phylogenetic placement and evolutionary history of humans within all vertebrates yields an understanding of human anatomy in general. For example, in humans, the left recurrent laryngeal nerve takes a longer, less efficient route than it does on the right side, due to the evolutionary history of the aortic arches (see Shubin 2008). In the context of Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy, this seemingly strange structure makes sense. Understanding phylogenetic history also explains pathologies such as the presence of branchial arch fistulas in some infants due to incomplete closing of pharyngeal pouches or the higher occurrence of inguinal hernias in people with external testes compared to those with internal ovaries. Additionally, appreciating the phylogenetic position of humans in the evolution of all vertebrates will afford our students a better understanding of the utility of model organisms in the study of human health and disease. 2ff7e9595c
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