Recently smashed my finger and lost the nail and it got me wondering what is the biological / mechanical / etc function / reason for fingernails? Sure it would be harder to grip little things, but is there a structural reason why our digits need these things?
EDIT: Follow up question. What is different about the skin underneath your nail that makes it so painful when initially exposed to air?
In: 273
You lost the nail and kept the finger. Nails act as protection of your finger, so you keep your fingers in case you injure your hand just like you did.
Mostly for grip. You also have to remember the environment that we evolved in. We were hunter-gatherers and nails probably aided in most things related to that.
I would almost say exactly that reason…. imagine you didn’t have a nail. Your squishy little meat sack of a finger may have been destroyed.
Nail are like super hard skin that keeps growing fast… they can be for protection like an armor.
Nails evolved from claws. Basically keratin structures currently in place to protect as indicated by other comments here.
>Sure it would be harder to grip little things
That’s why. Having a flattened claw on the back of your finger provides counter pressure when gripping small objects. Humans are as successful as we are because of our ability to create complex tools. Creating and using these tools require extreme dexterity and humans have the most agile hands on the planet when it comes to manipulating small details. Our fingernails aid in this. It’s the kind of thing you don’t notice until it’s gone.
Have you ever tried to peel stuff apart after you cut your nails? That is the big reason, primal humans ripping the skin off a fruit or meat off a bone
Think about when you stub your toe on something. The toenail is like a little plate of armor protecting your soft toe right where it impacts. Your fingernail offers similar protection to your finger (as you recently experienced), and is also a useful tool for prying, peeling, scratching, and pinching/gripping tiny objects.
Sitting here with a smashed nail and wondering if my nail is going to fall off as I read this ha
Another thing most haven’t touched on is how much nails help when picking up small objects. It’s very hard to, for example, pull out a tick with big round sausage fingers and no nails. The nails give you a much more precise grip that fingers just can not provide on their own.
Latest Answers