What is the purpose of finger & toe nails?

Question

What is the purpose of finger & toe nails? The only purpose I can see is for the protection of the tips of fingers & toes. But why are they there? What causes them to grow?

Answer 1

As you may have noticed,all of the beings that live on land or air,have at least two of their limbs equiped with talons,claws or nails. it is a tool and a weapon that nature provides,in order to capture food,dig,or fight.
Through natural selection,human nails went useless,because we used weapons and tools for these purposes,in fact,our natural weapons were pretty much useless from the very start,that's why we developed a brain capable of inventing the tools we lacked.
So,when you look at your nails,you look at the reason why you are able to ask questions and use a computer to find the answers!

Answer 2

Besides their ornamental role, nails serve several important less appreciated functions. They act as weapons of offense or defense, enable you to scratch that annoying itch, protect the delicate fingertips from injury ( imagine slamming the car door on your fingers without having your fingernails to protect them) enhances fingertips sensitivity ( you can discern whether you have two or three pages between your fingers ) and facilitates fine tactile movements such as picking up tiny objects like pins or buttoning a shirt or blouse.
Fingernails, just as hair is, are just an extention of the skin. They are made out of dead cells , from a protein called keratin. Contrary to popular belief, nails do not breathe.
The matrix, is the one who receives the blood flow, it is the one responsible of creating these dead cells called nails.
Contrary to popular belief, calcium does not stimulate nail growth, it is the matrix that produces the nails directly. That is why we need to protect it from being exposed to hits and careless treatment with hammers or work related tools, so to avoid incorrect nail growth.
Nails grow very slowly - and fingernails grow faster than toenails. The root of the nail where it appears on your skin is called the cuticle. Cuticles help to protect the new formed nail and the nail bed. At the tip where the nail comes out of the skin is a whiter half-moon shaped structure called the lunula.
As to why they grow....the older they get the more brittle nails become and as with life the dead cells are pushed away to make way for the new.

Answer 3

I think they are there as more of a tool. Think about the nails on dogs, that they use to dig with, or animals that use their nails to attack. They are there for the same reason we have fingers or noses, because we need them.

Answer 4

When making love they are there to arouse the lover , amazing pleasure

Answer 5

evolution I guess