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

ok 4 one we did NOT evolve and 2 we are made the way we are  because god made us in a way that can be convenete 4 us to live easaly as possable.(if we had 3 fingers it would be very difficult 2 pick up and do things.(and 2 type...)  i am praying 4 u.

Answer 2

Because 3 or 4 toes just wasn't s**y.

Answer 3

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 4

better grip and balance

Answer 5

It first of all because of God because he is the one who created us! And second of all maybe because of the five fingers we have!

~Hoped this helped!

Answer 6

it helps to count,

ie

two feet

equals ten toes

decimal etc

Answer 7

cant realy answer that one for you ,but thay say we evolved from apes i think apes have 5 toes aswell cant say ive realy looked.

Answer 8

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 9

we need them to balance... we might lose our small to in the future coz we use shoes and dont climb so much.

Answer 10

some people think that we evolved were apes and apes have five fingers?

Answer 11

Cos 6 wouldn't fit in the shoe  !!

Answer 12

dude we never evovled from anything God made us he made us with five fingers and five toes.

Answer 13

Well, if we had, say 7 toes, we would be asking why we don't have 5 toes instead........

Answer 14

You,ve got 5 ! ????

Answer 15

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 16

Balance

Answer 17

well why we have five and not 6 or 4 we don't really know, its a very good question really id like to see what answers you get.

trust the mad brainwashed bible bashhers to start spouting there c**p about god making it so, how dumb can they be

Answer 18

You are assuming we "evolved" from something.  Why don't you think we had five toes on each foot to begin with?  Before you put all your faith in evolution, please consider the possibility that we were intended to be this way and we have the same number of fingers and toes we started with.

Answer 19

because four toes looks funky in sandals

Answer 20

oh god I'm deformed.  I've got 10 fingers and toes.

Answer 21

Good grief, we just do.  Why do horses have hooves?

Why do dogs bark?

Answer 22

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 23

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 24

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 25

WE HAVE 5 TOES BECAUSE 1 PIG WENT TO MARKET,1PIGGY WENT HOME ,1PIGGY HAD ROAST BEEF ,AND 1 PIGGY HAD NONE& THE OTHER ONE PIGGES WERE FROM POLAND AND COULD DO THE JOB CHEAPER AT HALF THE PRICE

Answer 26

MMMMM, There are two theorys,  one is Evolution,  one is the other.  I think that Primates are still.............Primates.  While humanity has continued on with progress.  Am inclined to believe the latter.  We were designed specifically with five toes because they give much better stability then four !!

Answer 27

because God wanted us to have 5 toes and 5 fingers on each foot/hand.

Answer 28

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 29

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

ST

Answer 30

because that's how we evolved. Our nearest relatives the great apes all have 5