Digit ratio: finger length research in primates!

September 29, 2008

Emma Nelson

Emma Nelson studies

‘Digit ratio’ in non-human primates:

‘Digit ratio’ research is not limited to the human hand. Emma Nelson from Department of Archaeology, University of Liverpool is one of the key-researchers who studies ‘digit ratio’ in the hands of primates.

The major focuss in Emma Nelson’s ”digit ratio’ research in primates is:
“Using digit ratios (2D:4D) to investigate social systems in anthropoids; implications for the study of the evolution of hominin sociality.”.

Variation in non-human primate 2D:4D is currently unknown. One of the aims of this project is to map differences in mean 2D:4D within and between non-human primates species.

Digit ratio in non-human primates
Posted in digit ratio, digit ratio in non-humans, finger length | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Digit ratio: finger length research in primates!”

  1. freidenker85 Says:

    September 30, 2008 at 3:29 pm

    I’m sorry, what is the practical meaning of digit ratio? How does it bear on inter-species differences?

    Reply
  2. fingerlengthdigitratio Says:

    September 30, 2008 at 9:57 pm

    Good question!

    I think the practical meaning of ‘digit ratio’ is actually not very high. Especially because it very hard to observe ‘digit ratio’ with the bare eye. So, I guess we’ll have to wait if the future will bring us ANY practical applications.

    However, for the time being … we’ll have to create the entertainment by ourselves … for example:

    When you meet a person with very pronounced ’square cheeks’, very likely that this man/woman has a very significant LOW digit ratio!!! (= index finger being much shorter than the index finger)

    Reply
  3. freidenker85 Says:

    October 2, 2008 at 6:28 am

    “index finger being much shorter than the index finger”? Sorry, I lost you there.

    Also, it’s okay, I wasn’t looking for entertainment, knowing this stuff is entertainment enough! So this is actually fishing in the dark? What made scientists look for digit ratio in the first place? The measurements don’t look arbitrary to me!

    Reply

Leave a Reply