Is it possible to have six toes

One of the skeletons had an ornate anklet around its six-toed foot but carried no such offering on its five-toed foot. All told, the pedal art and ornaments suggest that polydactyly was a respected and familiar physical trait, and not merely an artistic or mythical representation.

The authors of the study do not understand why the rate of polydactyly was higher among the Chacos, but they hypothesize that its well-regarded presence could have made it more common. Past research indicates that if a heritable trait does not negatively affect the individual, it is often retained in the population.

Other minor developmental anomalies, like short fingers and toes, are often passed from generation to generation. And if a trait is valued in the community, as it seems was the case for polydactyly among the Chaco people, it is more likely to increase in frequency through the years. However, Crown cautions that the rate of polydactyly in Pueblo Bonito may not have been fully representative of the living population at the time, and may just reflect preferential burials and artistic representation.

Marden offers another hypothesis, speculating that the frequency of extra digits in the population may indicate there was an environmental trigger in Chaco Canyon. Whatever the reason, the new research does make clear that additional digits were exalted at the time. All rights reserved. On the Right Foot To determine how common polydactyly was among the Chacos, the researchers conducted an analysis of 96 skeletons excavated from Pueblo Bonito during prior expeditions.

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As bioengineer Etienne Burdet of Imperial College London noted , "extra fingers and toes are traditionally seen as a birth defect, so nobody has thought to study how useful they might really be.

In some cases, the defect claim is true, since the extra digits can be vestigial, or poorly developed. But removing them isn't necessarily a simple procedure. Each extra digit has its own bone structure, tendons, and musculature, all incorporated into the entire structure of the hand, so doctors don't just have to remove the extraneous part, but restructure the whole thing. However, the new case study explores a different scenario.

In the case of a year-old mother and her year-old son, the extra digits were well formed and fully developed. Both of them w3ere born with an extra finger between their thumb and index finger, on both hands. Among ethnic groups there are differences in how often the extra finger is on the small finger or thumb side of the hand.

Most children with polydactyly are otherwise healthy. When the extra digit is tied off, the body tries to regrow the nerve. If this happens, a small bump can form where the extra digit was tied off. This is called a neuroma noo ROW muh Picture 3. It is best to have the extra toes or fingers surgically removed. If the extra digit is on the hand, the surgery is usually done before a child enters school since he or she will be using the hands more in school.