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by saviorknights on November 18th, 2005

saviorknights

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How did claws evolve into nails, assuming that they did?

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Answers. 2 helpful answers below.

  • by Karthi keyan on November 25th, 2005

    Karthi keyan

    The earliest species of primates like the genus Carpolestid had claws for hunting, etc. As they evolved they started to think and they started to use tools instead of their so called claws. Now these useless claws is decreased to nails over time.

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  • by lynnenorth on April 7th, 2006

    lynnenorth

    About 53-54 million years ago, at the beginning of the Eocene epoch, primates appeared in the fossil record for the first time. Around the time that primates became arboreal and developed prehensile hands and feet, with opposing thumbs and toes, their claws also became nails. This being the case, it was probable that having nails instead of claws was somehow tied in with finger dexterity and sensitivity.

    Genetically, there is not that much difference between nail and claw. To end up with a nail, a claw needs to have flattened out, instead of essentially rolling up into a cone or tube, and to be made of fewer and thinner layers of material; this happened with only a few changes in the DNA, not in the genes which construct the material of nail or claw so much as in the "control elements" which affect how the genes are turned on and off.

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