# Why do humans have only one windpipe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2006, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-have-only-one-windpipe/370767 "2006-08-30T07:14:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-have-only-one-windpipe/370767/21 "2006-08-30T21:42:01Z")
> [@Endemic](#): > > Yes, I guess the fact that Evolution has seen to leave us with a single trachea means that it was not selected against. But intuitively it just seems that in the early days lots of people must have choked to death. I mean they were eating really tough meat and also didn’t have any public awareness campaigns or anything. I wonder if Oog’s mom ever told him he must take small bites and to chew his food 30 times… I’m with **Sage Rat**. Young people of child bearing age still had good teeth and could chew things well. After they got old and had few teeth with which to chew they already had produced offspring so who cares if they choke to death? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-have-only-one-windpipe/370767/22 "2006-08-30T22:07:53Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > What we call dolphins and whales are really overlapping groups of aquatic mammals. For scinetific purposes, there really isn’t any such thing as a whale. A better term would be cetacean, which includes all the animals we refer to as dolphins, whales and porpoises. For instance, you probably know that a Killer Whale (Orca) is more closely related to Flipper than to Moby Dick. I forget to add… I’m sure \*\*Colibri \*\*was using the term “whale” in its broadest sense-- ie, all cetaceans. I wasn’t trying to correct him, since he knows more about that stuff than I do. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-have-only-one-windpipe/370767/23 "2006-08-30T22:23:40Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > I forget to add… I’m sure \*\*Colibri \*\*was using the term “whale” in its broadest sense-- ie, all cetaceans. That’s right. I was just too lazy to type “whales, dolphins, and porpoises,” and didn’t want to use “cetacean” since it’s a bit technical. But I should know enough by now to include every possible permutation in an answer in GQ if I don’t want someone to remark on it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-have-only-one-windpipe/370767/24 "2006-08-31T07:31:46Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > This is contrary what some claiming to be evolutionists promote. > They suggest or outright claim the organisms are or have self determination. ? ? ? If you mean that many people misunderstand (or misuse) evolution (because of hazy memories of simpliefied explanations in 8th grade biology class), then yes. But really, no - evolution or organisms don’t have the purpose of changing from amoeba to the crown of creation, the human. Just because Evolution is a feedback-guided process (not a blind one!), doesn’t mean “it” = the process knows where it’s going (or even cares). “Self determination” sounds more Lamarckian to me, which is close to how evolution comes out when over-simpliefied (because the total evolution theory is quite complicated). Unfortunately, while Lamarck makes for a better story, and appeals to human belief about things being “Just so”, it’s still quite wrong. (I remember in my high school biology final, I had to explain why snow geese change the color of their feathers from brown in summer to white in winter - I had to explain everything in detail, because otherwise, it would have sounded Lamarckian. The snow geese **don’t** think “It would be an advantage to have white feathers, to be invisible against the snow”. A mutation appears that provides an advantage, and gets selected for. ) ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-have-only-one-windpipe/370767/25 "2006-09-01T07:25:41Z")
> [@MrSquishy](#): > > As a bit of a hijack, as I understand it, if you are coughing, you are not really in any danger of choking to death. That is, if you are coughing, you are breathing, and to choke to death your windpipe has to be completely blocked which means you wouldn’t be able to cough. > Is this correct? Hi **MrSquishy**. I don’t consider this a hijack. A hijack in this instance might be more like… say… a pointless debate on whther dolphins are whales… or perhaps one on the lunacy of intelligent design… :rolleyes: You are right about the coughing can’t be choking thing. But when we both woke up, it was more like a strangled wheeze than a cough – not much air was getting through at that moment. But since she had simply aspirated some saliva, her windpipe couldn’t have been blocked. I think it may have been more of a reflexive constriction of the bronchial tubes in reaction to the shock. This has happened to me once too at night and I remember it the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-have-only-one-windpipe/370767/26 "2006-09-01T12:13:01Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > It seems to me that is an illustration of the weakness of Intelligent Design. Since a design exists that virtually precludes choking to death, why would an Intelligent Designer use a different design for the object of his affection? The biologists’ postulate relies on the idea that evolution works with what is available and adapts it to another use. An Intelligent Designer shouldn’t have to do that in order to produce speech. > > Yes, I know that God moves in mysterious ways that are beyond any possibility of our understanding. Also the the Designer of Intelligent Design is not necessarily the God of the Bible. Sure. Or, as Alfonso el Sabio (Alphonse the Wise) of Castille said, during a visit to the Astronomer’s wing of the school he built in Toledo: > [@Alfonso el Sabio](#): > > You know, if God has asked me for advice, this would all have been a lot simpler. He probably would have been right at home around here. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-have-only-one-windpipe/370767/27 "2006-09-01T12:13:05Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > It seems to me that is an illustration of the weakness of Intelligent Design. Since a design exists that virtually precludes choking to death, why would an Intelligent Designer use a different design for the object of his affection? The biologists’ postulate relies on the idea that evolution works with what is available and adapts it to another use. An Intelligent Designer shouldn’t have to do that in order to produce speech. > > Yes, I know that God moves in mysterious ways that are beyond any possibility of our understanding. Also the the Designer of Intelligent Design is not necessarily the God of the Bible. Sure. Or, as Alfonso el Sabio (Alphonse the Wise) of Castille said, during a visit to the Astronomer’s wing of the school he built in Toledo: > [@Alfonso el Sabio](#): > > You know, if God had asked me for advice, this would all have been a lot simpler. He probably would have been right at home around here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-have-only-one-windpipe/370767.md?page=1)