• Question: why don't most animals have opposable thumbs???:):):)

    Asked by mayerar01 to Carol, Ellie, John, Philip, Rebecca on 3 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: John Welford

      John Welford answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      Good question, opposable thumbs are so useful, you’d think that all animals would want them!?

      Actually I’m not sure that’s the case, although they are really useful for what humans do, most animals can do everything they need to with the legs/hands/claws that they have. Because they eat different things, and live in different places, natural selection has never favoured developing them.

      A similar question would be, why can’t humans fly when lots of animals can? The answer is pretty much the same – because we’ve never found an evolutionary benefit in developing that feature – which is a shame! 🙂

    • Photo: Carol White

      Carol White answered on 6 Jul 2012:

      I think John answered that pretty neatly!

      Animals (like cats and dogs) have evolved to develop traits that help them survive in their environment. Eg. in cats, like being very agile and having very sensitive vision for movement. I wish humans had both of those traits!

      The animals that DO have opposable thumbs are pretty cool…
      – opossums have opposable thumbs on their hind feet which help them to grip!

      Have you seen this TV advert about cats with opposable thumbs…?

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