What is the original purpose of fingernails and toenails?

Question

I know they are "useful" NOW, but as we were evolving what was the point? What do primates use their fingernails for? (Do they even have fingernails?)

Since walking upright, why have we not lost them?

I didnt mean that evolution has a point as in a point in time. I meant what was the point/purpose of fingernails.

Thanks for the answers.

Answer 1

They didn't evolve in their current form. Many things appear to be confusing when you look at evolution. But more careful examination could reveal that facts. Fingernails most likely evolved from claws, or other protective features. As the hands became more of a tool for movement, tool use, handling, etc, a simple claw was no longer advantageous, and slowly evolved into fingernails.

And also, even if something is no longer advantageous, it doesn't mean it will go away. It would still have to be advantageous for it to be gone for that to happen.

Snakes and whales have bones meant for legs. It doesn't hinder them at all, so they are still there. They reduced to the point were they were not longer a factor.

Answer 2

Firstly, there is no pre-determined point to evolution. Nobody is making decisions. The strongest most useful attributes merely survive because they make the organisms utilizing them stronger and more able to survive and pass on the genes responsible.

Secondly, our finger and toe nails are similar to claws and hooves found in other animals. More generally called “digital appendages”, they are enlarged keratinized structures that protect the tips of the fingers and toes in most vertebrate
species, or aminals with backbones.

So the answer is, they are _protective_ in function.

Answer 3

They are a variant on the gripping claw in the precursor of the primates.

Answer 4

God's way of preventing nose picking.