# different sized fingers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 15, 2001, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132 "2001-01-15T12:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bj0rn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@bj0rn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bj0rn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/1 "2001-01-15T12:36:49Z")
what is the biological reason we have different sized fingers? bj0rn - … ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/2 "2001-01-15T13:00:26Z")
to make glove making a difficult art. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/3 "2001-01-15T14:39:28Z")
[ul] [li]When lifting/gripping something, it’s best to have the most strength in the middle. Hence, the middle finger is stronger and longer.[/li][li]The index finger is relatively strong. But it’s shorter so that it will more easily meet the thumb for picking up little objects.[/li][li]The ring finger is strong, but linked to the middle finger. (From an open hand, curl your middle finger to the palm. Most likely, your ring finger will come about halfway down.) This is probably to boost grip strength. Since it is as “in the middle” as the middle finger amongst the four unopposable ones. But since the middle finger is used most, it is longer.[/li][li]The pinky is their for auxiliary support, so it doesn’t need to be long nor strong.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/4 "2001-01-15T14:46:35Z")
Bingo, AWB. Just look at a Coelocanth. Seen by many as the missing link between sea- and land-based animals. Why is it’s fin pattern the way it is? Why does a ginko have pads that are arrayed that way? Millions of years of evolution have perfected the digits to fit the needs of the animal. As chimps, we were up in trees. Then, as larger primates, we spent more time knuckling around the grounds. I’m no anthropologist, and I know we have some here- what is the corrolary between early primate digits and homo sapien digits? Does it show a pure developmental curve? Or, are there unknowns in the pattern and lengths of our digits? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![gooti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gooti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooti)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/5 "2001-01-15T14:57:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* > \*\*Bingo, AWB. Just look at a Coelocanth. Seen by many as the missing link between sea- and land-based animals. Why is it’s fin pattern the way it is? Why does a ginko have pads that are arrayed that way? > Cartooniverse \*\* Do you mean gecko? I saw a show on the Discovery Channel recently about that. Apparently those little critters’ appendages are a wonder of biological “engineering”. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/6 "2001-01-15T15:10:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marjorie\_the\_Trash\_Heap \* > [BDo you mean gecko? I saw a show on the Discovery Channel recently about that. Apparently those little critters’ appendages are a wonder of biological “engineering”. \*\* Not to be confused with [GEICO](http://www.geico.com). ---
**Author:** ![lucie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed8c4c/32.png) [@lucie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucie)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/7 "2001-01-15T17:59:25Z")
The PBS show “Scientific American Frontiers” did a show on this recently, with some scientists hypothesising that tool-making in early hominids contributed to the ultimate design of the Homo sapien hand. This is the only site I have been able to come up with - a description of the episode itself. I’ll keep loking for an article. [http://www.pbs.org/pressroom/2000/fall/releases/samf\_bigquestions.html](http://www.pbs.org/pressroom/2000/fall/releases/samf_bigquestions.html) ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/8 "2001-01-15T19:20:31Z")
When I first joined the forums, one of my first OP’s was: “Why do we have the number of fingers we do?” One of the respondants referred to a book called ‘Eight Little Piggies’ by Stephen Jay Gould, which describes a theory as to how the hand evolved. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/9 "2001-01-15T21:28:43Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Marjorie\_the\_Trash\_Heap \* \*\* [QUOTE Do you mean gecko? I saw a show on the Discovery Channel recently about that. Apparently those little critters’ appendages are a wonder of biological “engineering”. \*\*[/QUOTE] Oops. Correctamundo. Figures, I get coelocanth right, and screw up the little lizard. ROFL On the Geico !!! ---
**Author:** ![bj0rn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@bj0rn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bj0rn)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2001, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/10 "2001-01-18T12:09:55Z")
your pinky controls much of the power you get in a grip, because the muscle on the opposite of the thumb is a very strong muscle and that is the muscle the pinky uses in a grip. eh…confusing. i just realized, that when you bend your fingers they even up in lenght, that is that the tip of the fingers aligns when you bend them. bj0rn - thanks… ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/11 "2001-01-19T05:31:04Z")
:hijack: There are also _some_ difference in finger length between genders. There is apparently evidence that men tend to have longer ring fingers than women (I think this was what I read…). Also, women’s finger lengths tend to change along with their menstrual cycle. :/hijack: ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-sized-fingers/50132/12 "2001-01-19T06:22:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mnemosyne \* > **There is apparently evidence that men tend to have longer ring fingers than women (I think this was what I read…). Also, women’s finger lengths tend to change along with their menstrual cycle.** Where can I find some of this evidence? Not that I’m disagreeing with you . . . it seems such an odd thing that I’d be very interested in hearing more about it.