# Do apes or monkeys have "funny bones"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apes-or-monkeys-have-funny-bones/694377>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 30, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apes-or-monkeys-have-funny-bones/694377 "2014-07-30T00:33:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apes-or-monkeys-have-funny-bones/694377/1 "2014-07-30T00:33:28Z")

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I Googled for this and only found discussions about whether or not they had a sense of humor.

The so-called “funny bone”, of course, is not a bone at all but a nerve unprotected by bone (the ulnar nerve). Why does the ulnar nerve run that way on a human arm? Is it related to anatomical changes for us to have opposable thumbs?

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**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apes-or-monkeys-have-funny-bones/694377/2 "2014-07-30T02:19:38Z")

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The place the ulnar nerve crosses the elbow is called the ulnar groove on the media epicondyle of the humerus. I can’t easily find a comparative anatomy picture labelling that on a Great Ape or monkey but I did find [this](https://www.inkling.com/read/morreys-the-elbow-and-its-disorders-morrey-4th/chapter-1/comparative-primate-anatomy-of) which has pictures of the distal humerus of the baboon, chimpanzee, and human and some explanation of the reasons for divergence in elbow structure.

> [@](#):
>
> In overview, the combination of comparative anatomy and the fossil record indicates that the modern human elbow owes its beginnings to our hominoid ancestry. Current evidence suggests that many of the characteristic features of the human distal humerus and proximal radius and ulna can be projected back approximately 15 to 20 mya to a common ancestor of extant apes and humans. Functional analysis suggests that this morphologic structure arose in hominoid primates in response to the need for stabilization throughout the flexion-extension and pronosupination ranges of motion to permit a more versatile form of forelimb use. This morphology was still largely intact following the evolution of upright posture and bipedal locomotion in the earliest known hominids. However, as the forelimb became less and less involved in locomotion, the hominid elbow underwent additional modifications, relaxing some of the emphasis on stabilization and increasing performance throughout the range of movement. The fossil record indicates that the distinct form of the modern human elbow probably first appeared about 2 mya in our ancestor H. habilis. This morphology has changed only subtly during all subsequent stages of human evolution.