What animals have six toes and why are they needed?
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Madagascar romanoski was opened in 1780 by the French naturalist Pierre Sonner
Humans, like most primates, on the hand has exactly five fingers. It is believed that this design feature of our bodies has been passed down to us from the most ancient ancestor of all the vertebrate creatures. During some species have lost some fingers and even limbs, but among them there are those who got more than five fingers. For example, these include cats, pandas and elephants, but recently the number of the six-fingered man included another animal. It was the lemur species Aye-Aye living in the territory of the island of Madagascar.
About the unusual structure of the hand of this strange-looking creature was recently told researchers from the U.S. state of North Carolina in a scientific journal . Lemur species Daubentonia madagascariensis also known as Madagascar reconozca and leads a mostly nocturnal life. These primates have large round eyes, big ears and thick, but ruffled fur. Their distinctive feature are the hands with thin fingers, one of which is a few inches longer than the other.
Unusual animal of Madagascar
Thin fingers given to them for a reason. The fact that Madagascar's reconoci eat mainly hiding in the trunks of trees by insects. To find them, they knock on trees, hoping to find a free cavity, where mainly inhabited by various larvae. Just to get these nutritious creatures, the lemurs from Madagascar and need long fingers.
three-Dimensional hand model of the Madagascar reconoci
Another interesting feature of the Madagascar lemurs is their adept ability to move through trees. To find out how this little animal is able to stay on the branches, researchers from the University of North Carolina decided to examine carefully their limbs. For this, they created three-dimensional models of six individuals of different age and sex, and examined from all sides.
Why you need a sixth finger?
To his surprise, the six limbs of all primates, scientists found another one, a sixth finger. It is located next to the thumb, but has a very small size, and therefore not visible to the naked eye. He is not just some appendage, and a full finger with possibility of movement in three directions by means of special muscles. Moreover, each of them has its own .
According to the researchers, a sixth finger is needed to lemurs precisely in order the better to grasp tree branches. Other animals also found a similar structure of the limbs, however they are intended for completely different purposes. For example, the Panda's sixth finger is needed for holding down the bamboo. Also, this design is relevant to moles, which, thanks to her better dig the ground.
Besides the fact that Madagascar's reconoci are the first known human primates with six fingers, they have another interesting feature. Despite the fact that they have night vision, they are able to distinguish colors — such a skill, incidentally, can not boast of any one nocturnal animal.
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