why did humans evolve to have five toes?

Question

why five toes rather than 3 or 4, is it because it relates to the 5 digits on the hand

Answer 1

the reason why we have 5 fingers and 5 toes is because before human they were apes and monkeys and other pre human like creatures. If you look at monkeys and chimps you will see that they have 5 digits on hands and feet. How eever you see there hands and feet look different. This is because there hands and feet where desighned to help climb trees and swing across trees and stuff. However when the enviorment changed and grass got taller with more open fields it became harder for them too see when they traveled. So they would have to stand up and soon learned to walk. Soon over time only the best fit for learning how to walk more upright survived and becauseof that this means the way there feet are had to change. If you look at there feet they look and move more like hands somewhat because there feet are made to help manipulate objects like vines with there feet. but because walking for so long adds alot of pressure on to your feet and stuff it changed and become better suited for walking. Also if you look at chimps they have a shorter thumb and longer fingers while we have shorter fingers and a longer thumb. Thats because there hands are better suited for tree swinging while ours are better suited for mannipulating objects.

so in all our digits where made to manipulate onto trees to swing around and stuff but because of the evolutionary change to learn to walk. It changed the way are digits are made in our feet which now are probably to help keep our balance better when walk on our feet.

Answer 2

Good question, not thought about that before!

Obviously having 5 toes(or fingers) is useful for climbing trees, grabbing objects, etc., but it's hard to see why 3 or 4 (or 6!) couldn't do the job just as well.

The fact is that not only do apes and monkeys have 5 fingers and toes, all mammals have 5 digits, so it's likely the original ancestors of mammals evolved like this 100s of millions of years ago.

So why the number 5? The answer seems to be that there's no really strong reason. It was just a twist of fate that this number occurred. While 5 may not necessarily be the 'best' number, there was no strong reason why 4 or 6 was better. So 5 remained the standard number by default in the absence of any strong evolutionary pressure for a different number.

So the answer is basically 'coincidence'!

Answer 3

Some ancient primate ancestor, probably the ancestor to most living mammals, had five digits. Most likely, because 5 digits were a compromise between the strength in bone and minimum complexity to walk. Primates have kept all five digits instead of having some become vestigial or evolving into another form because most of them are arboreal or live in trees (or are not very far from it) and continuously use the pad-tipped five fingered hands and feet to keep excellent grip.

Once you pass a little farther along the line into apes, you also have to consider sexual selection and the fact that asymmetry and significant dissimilarity to what we are familiar with are not considered very attractive. That tends to result in another resistance to developing large groups of people with finger counts different from five.

To simplify: We have 5 because our ancestors did and because 5 fingers are now and have been useful and a factor in attraction.

Answer 4

Five is a popular number of digits for mammals, and it makes sense to have the same number of fingers as toes.
What is fascinating is how the panda lost its thumb (it became an ordinary digit) and then regained it by developing a splint from a tiny little bone. If you are interested in evolution, try any of Stephen Jay Gould's books, which are interesting and easy to read.
Check out www.athro.com/evo/pthumb for some helpful pictures

Answer 5

Those who gave Creationist answers are asking you just to accept that it is so, and to stop thinking about it. As to why we have 5 fingers and toes, it seems to be a universal rule with mammals. even in those who have no hands and/or feet, such as whales, horses, and bats, there are 5 "finger" bones, when really, any number, or just one, would have done in these situations. It refutes the claim that they were created that way for some reason. Logically, the primal mammal had five toes on each foot, and evolution has seen these vary through adaptation, to become fins, fuse to form hooves, stretch and become webbed to become wings, or be individually separated fingers for us.

Answer 6

as when we were primates we had the equivalent on four fingers and an opposable thumb on our feet and as we no longer use them they are just stumpy toes now. Think about apes feet. We have not evolved to have toes we are devolving from having four hands. It is like the fact that we used to have tails and our tailbone is still present under the skin.

Answer 7

Because human body is not only for utility. There are five fingers - this is the perfect proportion, nothing is random.
Have a look at the studies of the Renaissance (Leonardo da Vinci) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man

Answer 8

I don't know what God wanted, but I know you have toes for balance.

If you had a toe cut off, it'd throw off your balance. this could have something to do with the digits on your hand and balancing. The foot simply wouldn't be practical without 5 toes.

Answer 9

Because we started wearing shoes, and that 6th toe was not needed for running through the woods and terrain.

ST

Answer 10

Because 3 or 4 toes just wasn't sexy.