11/29/2004: Extra fingers and toes
 

http://cellar.org/2004/fingers6.jpg

http://cellar.org/2004/toes6.jpg

It does happen: these are the appendages of some dude named Tirso Furcal, who's from the Dominican Republic. Furcal was born with a sixth toe on each foot, as well as an extra finger on his right hand. It made life as a stone polisher more difficult, often painful. But no longer: he's had the extra digits removed in an operation at the Jersey City Medical Center.

polydactly- certain drugs taken during gestation make this more common...

He could've donated that finger to a friend of mine who lost his thumb to a lawn mower when he was 9. Then my friend really would have five fingers on one hand.

Which ones? I mean, not that I would ever encourage that sort of thing. :)

Let me guess, he got the surgery for free right?

Extra toes are somewhat common in cats (like the cats at the Hemingway estate in Key West). Somehow they are MUCH cuter on cats than on this guy. :greenface

Antonio Alfonseca, pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, has 6 fingers on each hand and 6 toes on each foot. His nickname is "Pulpo" (octopus).

I would have liked to have seen this guy's x-rays.

a friend of mine had a dog once with an extra toe on each foot. It allowed the canine to climb trees.

Every time he climbed up and caught a cat, we let him breed...

I remember from High School biology that having 6 fingers and toes is actually a dominant gene... so the rest of us with just 5 are really the freaks. Take this tidbit for what it's worth, but i think i'm actually right on this one.

The polydactly gene is dominant, yes. However, than does not mean 'normal' -- a mutant gene may be dominant like this one or recessive in cases like haemophilia. What is considered normal is determined by the population as a whole.

It's one of the most common abnormalities. Often the extra digit gets snipped off just after birth, the wound heals up with no sign of a scar.

Mom said, back when newborns (and moms) stayed in the hospital for several days, they'd tie off extra digits with surgical thread. It would usually drop off before they left the hospital.
Of course that's for the ones with no bone in them which was the most common kind.

Welcome to the Cellar, Nutbar. :)

Our elder kiddo was born with poly, syn, clino and camptodactyly on (of?) one hand (right), and syn and clinodactyly on the other. Our younger kid lucked out I guess and only got camptodactyly on a few fingers of both hands.

And we have a barn full of polydactyl cats, they aren't uncommon at all in places where they weren't burned as witches.

Every day I find a new reason to be thankful.
I had a friend as a child who was polydactyl.
In childish innocence I joked about how he had an edge on the rest of us.
He said his life was probably more complicated than someone with one LESS digit. Hard for me to imagine. I had practically forgotten about this dude.....