Hand Facts: News about hands!

CHARLES DARWIN HAD THE LONG FOREFINGER!

Charles Darwin’s voyage of the HMS Beagle (1831-1836) is known as the most important journey around the world ever made. For, during that the famous trip Darwin gained knowledge and insights that has changed the perception of human kind about the image of life on Earth dramatically.

On September 1, 2009 the “clipper Stad Amsterdam” left on a trip around the world, in the wake of Charles Darwin (1809-1882). During the 2009 journey researchers investigate many aspects of Darwin’s work and life. Evolutionary psychology professor Bram Buunk – who is involved in finger length research – studied Darwin’s finger length!

Jealousy in Montevideo:

Men and women have different reasons for jealousy, Buunk discovered in the seventies. Men are jealous because they do not want their female fertilized by another man – a genetic cuckoo – and for the dissemination of its genes on to run. Women are jealous because they do not want their husband’s attention spread over several partners, but exclusively focuses on her and her children.

Bram Buunk and his colleagues have discovered a link between the susceptibility to become jealousy, and the ratio of the length of index fingers and ring fingers. The story is now more or less known: if the index finger (a.k.a. the ‘pointer finger’ or ‘forefinger’) is relatively longer than the ring finger, the individual, regardless of sexe, has sort of a ‘female character’. Conversely, human males usually have a relatively long ring finger, usually the ring finger is longer than the index finger (while in human females the both fingers often have the same length).

The link could be traced back to an evolutionary coincidence. For, the same chemical cocktail during the embryonic development of the brains in the direction of the correct gender sends, plays a role in cutting the fingers of the hand embryonic plate.

Buunk also studied Darwin’s fingers:

“During a conversation about Buunk’s finger research, we realized that we could apply this theory to Darwin, and sure enough, a few photos, including the one in which he poses with his son William, you can see his hand with a relatively very long forefinger.” [see: the photos above]. “Another image that was found by a cameraman on the internet, confirms the idea that Charles Darwin had the long forefinger – which makes his a ‘female-typical man’.”

“The conclusion is obvious: Charles Darwin was a man with a strong feminine disposition! That may explain a lot: his gentleness, his highly developed social and diplomatic skills, his easy survival during the cooperation with Fitzroy – who was known to be a ‘difficult’ man (likely, a man with a long ring finger), his care for his family, and his concern for the consequences of the publication of his ‘theory of evolution’ on society in general and the welfare of his family in particular.”

SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER READING:
• Beagle 2009 report: Charles Darwin had the long pointer finger!
• Five things that your 5 fingers can tell you!
• Evolutionary hand analysis!
• A secret your finger length reveals!
• How to measure the 2D:4D digit ratio!