EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -From TEDEd, there’s a five finger trick for understanding and remembering the five processes-small population, non-random mating, mutations, gene flow, adaptation-that impact evolution (ie. the changes in the gene pool of a population from generation to generation).

Detailed explanation-2: -About 380 million years ago, quadrupedalism can have six, seven even eight fingers depending on different species. Due to evolution, it has been simplified into a five-finger structure which ensure both the flexibility and the grasping ability. This is the reason why we all have five fingers not six or four.

Detailed explanation-3: -But sometimes something goes wrong and an animal ends up with extra or missing digits. And surprisingly, having five fingers in these cases is usually a recessive trait. When people or animals are born with extra fingers this typically dominant trait is called polydactyly.

Detailed explanation-4: -Essentially, we have five digits because our ancestors did. Why this ancestral tetrapod had specifically five digits is still a mystery, though, according to Dr Justin Adams, a palaeontologist at Monash University.