I mean why 5, why 5 on each limb, why not 4 or 6. Why do our feet also have 5. Whats with our body being so symmetrical.
People who know anything about evolution, now is your time to shine.
You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments 41 points
*
The wikipedia article Polydactyly in stem-tetrapods has some explanations on how we ended up with 5 fingers and toes.
The gist of it is that tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrate animals) evolved from a fish similar to a lobe-finned fish that had 5 sets of bones in each of its fins that evolved into fingers and toes. Some tetrapods have subsequently lost digits but the basal state was five.
There’s a book, Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin that’s full of this kind of stuff. Highly recommend.
9 points
4 points
