Thumbs and the Evolution of Culture

Published: June 26, 2024, 10 a.m.

Do pandas have thumbs? Kind of. We should periodically take the time to acknowledge and admire the significan role our biological morphology affects our psychology as a species. Aside from language, humans have a simple adaptation that wsa likely crucial to how we have evolved as a species.\xa0 This is our episode all about thumbs!\xa0

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Links:\xa0
  1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-dexterous-thumbs-may-have-helped-shape-evolution-two-million-years-ago-180976870/
  2. https://www.npr.org/2010/07/26/128676181/a-handy-bunch-tools-thumbs-helped-us-thrive
  3. https://www.postregister.com/outdoors/humans-opposable-thumbs-grant-us-huge-advantages/article_87f0ce8c-c739-11ed-a365-4fadeb3996f9.html
  4. https://www.wral.com/story/thumbs-gave-human-ancestors-a-formidable-advantage/19497111/
  5. https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/human-origins/understanding-our-past/living-primates/the-grasping-hand
  6. https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Evol/opposablethumb.html
  7. https://magazine.scienceconnected.org/2015/01/oldest-primates-lived-trees/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CEarly%20primates%20were%20using%20this,ground%20couldn't%20reach.%E2%80%9D&text=The%20ability%20to%20live%20in,access%20to%20valuable%20food%20sources.
  8. Alm\xe9cija, S., Smaers, J. & Jungers, W. The evolution of human and ape hand proportions. Nat Commun 6, 7717 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8717
  9. Flatt A. E. (2002). Our thumbs. Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center), 15(4), 380\u2013387. https://doi.org/10.1080/08998280.2002.11927870
  10. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/world/opposable-thumb-human-evolution-study-scn/index.html
  11. https://www.thestar.com/life/2012/05/07/body_parts_pinky_finger.html
  12. MacDermid, J. C., Lee, A., Richards, R. S., & Roth, J. H. (2004). Individual finger strength: are the ulnar digits "powerful"?. Journal of hand therapy : official journal of the American Society of Hand Therapists, 17(3), 364\u2013367. https://doi.org/10.1197/j.jht.2004.04.006
  13. https://www.lexisnexis.com/documents/pdf/20090727114916_large.pdf


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