What kind of thumbs do humans have

Olduvai Hominid 7 trapezial metacarpal 1 articular morphology: contrasts with recent humans. Am J Phys Anthropol Marzke, Precision grips, hand morphology and tools. Tocheri et al.

The evolutionary history of the hominin hand since the last common ancestor of Pan and Homo. J Anat Skip to main content. Thumb Opposability. Certainty Style Key. More from this author English Department.

The discovery is an important step towards understanding how humans evolved and could help explain why some people are born with malformed digits. Their aim was to find out why hands develop asymmetrically, with a thumb instead of a fifth finger. Duboule said that only humans and great apes had the advantage of having a thumb that could be opposed to the other fingers.

This gives the hands an extraordinary mobility, and gives humans in particular an evolutionary advantage. Without thumbs, human beings would not have developed tools. Scientists have known since the s that certain genes in the body — known as architect genes — are arranged in the same order as the body parts they help to produce. By studying mice, which are similar in hand structure and development to humans, Duboule and his team could ascertain that thumbs grow in a special way.

Duboule says that the discovery should help further understanding of how humans evolved and why and how they developed differently to other mammals or birds. But the professor says there is also practical use to the research. According to Duboule, almost one in children are born with deformed hands, for example, with too many fingers or fused digits. Understanding how fingers form and the difference between them may provide some clues as to what causes such deformations.

The much-lauded Swiss quality of life has a dark side — namely levels of consumerism and convenience that jack up the national carbon footprint. And although the painstaking research took seven years to carry out, Duboule says that the study is not yet over. Straus, W. The riddle of man's ancestry. Le Gros Clark, W. Ruvolo, M. Resolution of the African hominoid trichotomy by use of a mitochondrial gene sequence. Natl Acad. USA 88 , — Wrangham, R.

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