I heard that in the near future of human evolution, we will lose our small toe?

Question

Is this true? and will this mean that we will also lose one of our fingers?

excuse me billyboyblue6969, how have i 'lost the plot'? I'm only asking a question here. explain to me how i've lost the plot.

No, I mean within the next few days.
Of course I mean thru' evolution! what do you think i meant?
And seriously, what are peoples problem, I am asking a simple, honest question. I don't get why people are getting so annoyed.

Thank you, zena479.

Answer 1

I guess so. I mean we lost our tail, right?

Answer 2

No, it's very unlikely. We do use the little toe for balance. Not much, but enough to make a difference.

The way evolutionary changes spread across an entire population is either because they provide a benefit to an organism, or because of what's called genetic drift, where a neutral change spreads randomly until more or less everyone has it.

Losing a toe wouldn't really fit into either of those categories, because it would be a positive or neutral change - it would be a disadvantage, as we would have slightly inferior balance.

There is another possibility - sexual selection, where females prefer to choose males with a particular characteristic. This is theorised as being the reason men have beards, for example. It's possible that for some reason all women will start wanting men with only four toes, but I can't see it somehow.

Answer 3

I take it this person has a time machine? Who can honestly say what will happen to humanity in the future.

I suppose the idea is that the little toe is a bit superfluous? We could do without. As a little used thing it would shrink to nothing?.Hmm... I still have my appendix and I still have a coccyx (the remains of a tail). So why would the upcoming humans lose their little toes? I'm not even sure that I don't use the thing.

It is just fantasy. These are just ideas that people put forward to demonstrate possible evolutionary processes.

Answer 4

We aren't evolving to gain or lose any of our toes. Just like we aren't evolving to lose our appendix, body hair, or any of the other vestigial remnants that we carry along with our body.

Evolution is about fitness. If a trait is advantageous, it becomes prevalent then dominant in the population because individuals with that trait reproduce more than others. If a trait is harmful to fitness, the trait is selected out because individuals with that trait reproduce less than others.

Do people with little toes reproduce less than people without little toes? No. Do people without appendixes reproduce less than people with appendixes? No. There's no selection pressure on these traits.

I often argue here the unpopular theory that humans have created enough technology to eliminate selection on their populations, eliminating evolution. This doesn't mean I don't believe in evolution, nor does it mean that I don't believe that humans have evolved in the past. I just think evidence is pretty strong that our technologies have eliminated selection from human populations, thus preventing future human evolution.

Answer 5

Unlikely as both still perform a purpose: the small finger - grip and the little toe balance.
Evolution only does away with something when then organism has no further use for it. So judging by most Humans the Brain will disappear sometime soon.

Answer 6

We would only lose our small toe if a mutation came about that left out our small toe. Then, in turn, this must be a survival advantage, where only the people with the mutatated "no small toe" reproduce.

I do not see this happening at all.

Answer 7

You most definately be dead by then, s if you loose your small toe, its definately wont be through evolutions. Or are you asking about squirrels? From yur avatar, maybe you are not human so this could be true. so hold on to your finger, you might lose it.

Answer 8

I have personally never heard of this, but it is not unlikely at all. Through evolution our entire shapes have changed and shifted. I do expect it to be a very very long process though, occurring over thousands of tears.

Answer 9

I think we need our little toes for balance. I never grew wisdom teeth - does that mean I am highly evolved or stoopid?

Where does that leave foreskins? On the cutting room floor?

Answer 10

On TV a scientist said we'd all be bald in a couple of hundred years because we've adapted so much and we didn't need it to keep us warm. We'll just have to wait and see...

Answer 11

Who knows, but it wouldn't be in the near future if it did happen.