I wonder if the fact that 5 is a Fibonacci number is somehow relevant. Things that grow have a predilection for Fibonacci numbers. Pine cones, sunflowers and...er...human hands? And those pesky animals with non-Fib numbered digits are the exceptions that prove the rule... On 20 Dec 2010, at 19:06, Henry Baker wrote:
Thanks! It took me a while, but I finally found that "oligodactyly" is the word for too few digits. You can now dazzle on your next crossword puzzle, scrabble game, or spelling bee!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligodactyly
This small, isolated tribe in Africa has the middle 3 toes missing, apparently without functional handicap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadoma
The 1 in 500 incidence for polydactyly is higher than I would have guessed, but it is indicative of the ongoing evolutionary pressures. The article for oligodactyly doesn't indicate incidence, so I would guess it is much lower than 1 in 500.
At 10:23 AM 12/20/2010, Adam P. Goucher wrote:
Evolution is happy to make huge mistakes about all kinds of endocrine & mitochondrial diseases, but not about the # of digits.
What about polydactyly (wow, a word with three 'y's!), where people are born with 6 digits on each limb?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydactyly
Sincerely,
Adam P. Goucher
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