How could vestigial traits such as the tiny human tailbone be explained via inheritance of acquired characters? If vestigial traits resulted from inheritance of acquired characteristics, something changed during the individual's lifetime. For example, some monkeys that moved out into grasslands from the forest no longer used their tails to swing and hang in trees. Individuals with longer tails reproduced less often. Over time this resulted in fewer and fewer long-tailed offspring, until humans with only a coccyx resulted.If vestigial traits resulted from inheritance of acquired characteristics, some individuals must have done better without a particular trait during their own lifetimes and passed the reduced trait on to their offspring. For example, monkeys with shorter tails were more attractive to females and reproduced more often. Over time, this resulted in more and more shorter-tailed offspring, until humans with a coccyx resulted.If vestigial traits resulted from inheritance of acquired characteristics, some individuals must have had reduced traits and passed those on to their offspring. For example, random effects resulted in fewer longer-tailed individuals each generation. Over time, this gradually resulted in shorter-tailed individuals on average, until humans with a coccyx resulted.If vestigial traits resulted from inheritance of acquired characteristics, some individuals must have lost the traits during their own lifetimes and passed the reduced traits on to their offspring. For example, a certain monkey's long tail might have been bitten off by a predator. The new traits would then somehow have passed to the individual's eggs or sperm, resulting in shorter-tailed offspring, until humans with a coccyx resulted.