Plus your dog can dig up your backyard in one afternoon (to find food, for example). But your nails have a job to do. Highest IQ Ever Recorded: Top 16 Smartest People of All Time. The short answer is we have evolved to have nails because they help us … Nails also enhanced sensitivity by providing an extra surface that could discern changes in pressure even more granularly. Curious Kids: how do tongues taste food? However, they do have a purpose you might not have considered. On the other hand, claws are useful for some things that cats and dogs often need to do. By removing the polish from your toenails, you expose the surface of your nails to the air. This is because striking stone tools together requires a very firm, strong grip, something that only broad fingertips can provide. Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. Can a cat do that with its claws? Causes Share on Pinterest A range of underlying conditions may cause yellow toenails. As the nail grows and pokes out from your skin, the cells it contains actually die, which is why trimming your nails doesn’t hurt. Use the same strategy that you used on your fingernails. Thick toenails may be caused by a range of different things, including fungal infections and skin conditions. Common causes of nail discoloration include: Fungal infection of the nails. Why Does The Best Sleep Come in a Boring Lecture? Most relate to human evolution, suggesting that they are related to the claws that other members of the animal kingdom have. The nail layer on the toe serves as a protective cap for the toe to prevent injuries and infections. Fingernails allow us to peel fruits like banana, oranges, and lemons with ease. The Science Behind One-Way Mirrors: How Do They Work? You can make and use tools. Maybe because our forefathers did have them, all chimpanzees and other creatures that look like them are known to manipulate objects and … When toenails have red and white stripes, there are usually problems elsewhere on your body. Here are some reasons why you might have thick toenails, the other signs that show up with them, and what you can do about them. The tops of our toes are susceptible to injuries. This made it easier for primates to climb and hop among the trees. The transition from water tetrapods to land tetrapods is a little fuzzy for this reason, which makes the evolutionary origins of claws, talons, and our own nails a bit fuzzy too. Fingernails and toenails on our limbs are quite similar to the claws found in arboreal animals. Humans are members of the primate family. The primates are the most intelligent group of mammals (mammals are animals who do not lay eggs). How Big Is It and Does It Bite? In fact, mammals, birds and reptiles have similar features at the ends of their appendages, such as claws and talons. These lines and V-shaped nicks are a hallmark of Darier disease. The result is pain, redness, swelling and, sometimes, an infection. Most of the early evidence for claws comes from track marks left behind by our four-legged ancestors or from a clawed frog, the African bush frog that has claws, which is unusual for frogs and amphibians. Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? If you have diabetes, make sure your doctor checks your feet every time you visit (you should do foot checks as well). What Is The Fibonacci Sequence? Curious Kids is a series for children. Why do we have toenails? Tool use has change the shape of our hands and our fingernails. Sheepshead Fish: Facts About The Fish With Human Teeth. For our apes, bonobos and other primates, toes and the nails on them help to grip things. While humans don’t usually use our toes these days to pick things up, our primate cousins do. Most of us do know that nails are made of a tough, dead substance called keratin, the same material that makes up hair. Discoloration of the nail plates is usually the least worrisome of … Why exactly do we have them? The hard covering of toenails protects and fortifies the dense network of blood vessels, muscles, and flesh beneath them. This literally allows them to breathe — and keeps them healthy. Discoloration of the nail plates. Think about all the amazing things we primates can do with nails. The hard covering of toenails protects and fortifies the dense network of blood vessels, muscles, and flesh beneath them. If you have diabetes, heart disease, or a long history of tobacco abuse and suffer with repeated ingrown toenails, see your physician or foot and … Many cases of ingrown toenails may be prevented by: Proper trimming. Among these, a fungal nail infection — onychomycosis (on-ih-koh-my-KOH-sis) — is a common cause of thickened toenails. Forefoot shape, including toe shape, exhibits significant variation among people; these differences can be measured and have been statistically correlated with ethnicity. We appreciate a lion’s sharp claws, or how an eagle’s talons can clutch and pierce through its prey, but we rarely admire our own nails. Thick toenails are easier to split and irritate if pressure is put on them incorrectly. Fingernails primarily serve as a cover for the top surface of our fingers and offer some degree of protection. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids. Each type of animal has evolved to have the type of finger-covering (either claws or nails) that best suits its needs. The nail layer on the toe serves as a protective cap for the toe to prevent injuries and infections. Lecturer of Human Anatomy, University of Western Australia. Check your feet every day. 10/ 12. The hard surface of your nails helps to protect the tips of your fingers and toes. All these primates – including us – evolved from a common ancestor that had claws. Circle Of Willis: Anatomy, Diagram And Functions. So our toenails are a hangover from a time in our evolutionary past where we often used our feet to pick stuff up and pick stuff off. Hello, curious kids! Toenails also exert counter pressure on our toes that help us with balance while walking and improves our spatial awareness. This dark shroud over the time between 360 and 335 million years ago is called Romer’s gap, after the palaeontologist Alfred Romer. 1. Our ancestors, primates, also have finger and toenails that look like ours. Imagine for a moment that humans didn’t have nails. So next time you’re at the zoo, look at the hands of gibbons, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, and you’ll see they have nails just like yours. The reason we have fingernails and toenails is not to pick our noses or to scratch our siblings. Amanda Meyer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Fingernails primarily cover the top surface of their fingers and offer some protection. To do all of that, they need broad fingertips so that their grip stays strong. Human nails don’t appear to have much of a purpose, unless it is to relieve an itch or when you need to peel something off. Packing an Ingrown Toenail Check with your doctor or podiatrist first if you are diabetic. By having nails, you can pick up tiny things like small LEGO bricks off the ground, pick off stickers, or pick a bug off you easily. Coefficient Of Restitution: Definition, Explanation And Formula. However claws emerged, they proved extremely handy (pun intended). Primates, including humans, have broad fingertips, and nails help them support those fingers. Dirt, poor hygiene, and living in a humid area are all causes of a fungal infection in your toenails. Cells in the matrix called keratinocytes produce the protein keratin that go on to form the nail. These grooming claws were used to get rid of parasites that live in the hair and skin, hence the name. Toenails can change color for different reasons; some are more treatable than others. Do the ridges on your toenails … "We have fingernails because we're primates," said John Hawks, a biological anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. How Are Water and Other Fluids Digested In The Human Body? This is why we can easily pick up even tiny things like screws, needles, peanuts, etc. It turns out that just why we have fingernails is a matter of some debate. Fingernails also help us to manipulate small objects. The fingernail increases the sensitivity of the finger by acting as a counter force when the pulp of the finger touches an object. You may have foot problems, but feel no pain in your feet. Many tree-climbing animals, like squirrels, have claws to clutch tree bark. The website is curated by a bunch of people supremely excited about science, with a hope that the fun that we have in curating it would be the same for all the readers reading it. There are many theories about why humans have fingernails and toenails. This is the same protein that makes up your hair, the horns on cows and sheep, and the hooves of horses, zebras, bulls, and other ungulates. Read more: Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. (Photo Credit : Pixabay). Why Is It So Special? How Does The Human Digestive System Work. Primates also climb trees but we mostly do it by grasping onto branches, and long claws get in the way when you’re grasping. Cut them straight across; cutting back inwards at the edges will increase the likelihood of problems and for diabetics can lead to medical intervention. Healthy fingernails and toenails should be white as it grows off the nail bed and the nail plate a pinkish color. Humans usually have five toes on each foot. The actual nail is therefore composed of layers of dead, compacted cells, along with keratin, which makes it strong and rigid, as well as flexible. It is … Here you can see a chimpanzee’s fingernails and toenails. The ends of our fingers and toes have changed to match our changed lives. https://www.drugs.com/health-guide/toenail-fungus-onychomycosis.html A dog or cat has claws that are thin, curved and pointed. Be aware, however, that these topical medications do not always penetrate the nail to reach the underlying infection (which is the reason oral medications have long been the mainstay of treatment for fungal nails). Can The Entire Human Race Fit Inside A Sugar Cube? Other variants may include syndactyly or arachnodactyly. These nails also allowed early humans to begin wielding tools. The short answer is we have evolved to have nails because they help us pick things up (like food), pick things off (like bugs), and hold tightly onto things. The claws, along with the structure of the limbs, gave terrestrial animals an advantage to climbing trees and diversifying to many other niches. The generally accepted reason is that we have nails to protect the tips of our fingers and toes. Nails provide a rigid backing to primates’ fingertips to improve grasping. What Would Happen If You Shot A Bullet On A Train? Well-fitting shoes and socks. It allowed creatures to grasp better, everything from penetrating the bark and branches of trees, clutching food, and digging. The answer is that nails let us do a lot of important things that you can’t do with claws. Cut your toenails. First, a lot of nail salons would go out of business, and we couldn’t enjoy painting our nails lots of different colours. The hard outer covering of fingernails make our grip around the object much more firm and precise. Curious Kids: is everything really made of molecules. That’s why you see primates like apes and monkeys also have nails on all their fingers and toes, as well as our closest primate “cousins”: gibbons, bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Your toenails and fingernails protect the tissues of your toes and fingers. The main function of toenails is likely for protection, compared to enhancing grip or the fine motor functions the fingernails have. List Of The Most Famous Indian Scientists. So why did we evolve to have nails instead of claws? We dig too, of course, but we use tools for that. Our own human nails evolved from claws. Compare your nails to those of a dog or cat. In fact, having super-long, clawlike nails can make it really hard to do a lot of things humans need to do – like eating, washing and holding things. Why Do Spittlebugs Live Inside Cocoons Made Of Their Own Spit? Examine your nails for patterns in the ridging. Copyright © 2010–2021, The Conversation US, Inc. Flat nails are better than claws for grasping. In this article, we look at why toenails might turn yellow and explain how to prevent and treat this symptom. Human nails are part of the reason for our hand’s dexterity. When more than five toes are present, this is known as polydactyly. And thickening toenails might be trying to tell you something is amiss.
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