HANDS AND FEET

Cromwell Argus, Volume L, Issue 2641, 22 September 1919, Page 3

HANDS AND FEET

Hands camp before feel. So .Mr C. Hed ley rtitled in it paper read before the Sydney Zoological Society. The first animals were four-handed, not four-footed, liven to-day oui' feel have jusl ceased hj be hands. The Australian bine!; isn't quite certain whether hi.- font is a hand or nor. since ho i~ able to pick up objects wifli his feet. The animals during the coiu>e of evolution v: ilkcd first flal fooie I. then on the Lips of their iocs. The spidei monkeys have dropped I heir Ihiiinbs, having no further use for I hem. Thev < eased to grasp branches tightly when swinging from branch to | l)i it licit. Dogs and cats have also begun to 10.-e their fingers. The horse rose on to tlie tips, of hi? toes in order t" run better. Five i <>f- were too many In run on. so he tried three, and now he u*es only one. Anil even that., ii may be observed, often fails ns ni Kuidwick. Smile wise animals grew a fifth hand. The nposMtni can wrap hi.-, tail around a bough and hang by ii. The spider monkey can handle anything with h'.s tail. The elephant made a hand out of his trunk. which i- really his nose. Man and lite kangaroo are in a clas.- apart. from all Hie other animals. No other animal in ihc world has (wo hand.s and two Feet. The wallaby has losi his thumb, and tied up two of hi- lingers in a bundle, not reipi ring ihein as separate digits..