by tophernator » Fri Jul 20, 2012 9:08 am
This isn't the founder effect, it is infact natural selection in action.
You see barn-building Amish people spend a large amount of time hammering nails to create shelter and pumping butter churners for food. The average Amish man over the age of 14 loses 0.3 fingers per year in nail hammering accidents, and butter churning requires at least 7 fingers. So a "normal" 10-fingered Amish man will be reduced to <7 fingers by their mid-twenties, and thus become an unappealing mate. While a polydactyl man may retain churning ability into the 30s thus producing more offspring.
Science.
This isn't the founder effect, it is infact natural selection in action.
You see barn-building Amish people spend a large amount of time hammering nails to create shelter and pumping butter churners for food. The average Amish man over the age of 14 loses 0.3 fingers per year in nail hammering accidents, and butter churning requires at least 7 fingers. So a "normal" 10-fingered Amish man will be reduced to <7 fingers by their mid-twenties, and thus become an unappealing mate. While a polydactyl man may retain churning ability into the 30s thus producing more offspring.
Science.