The coccyx is the terminal part of the spinal column and consists of the last three (or four or five, depending on which you count) vertebrae fused together in a C-shaped structure. This section of bone has no function in humans. It doesn’t house or protect anything; the spinal cord, which vertebrae are designed to protect, terminates much higher than where the coccyx begins. It is vestigial—a remnant from our ancestors who had tails.
