[2012-Jul-19] Polydactyly

ChaoticBrain · Post by **ChaoticBrain** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:25 pm

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db ... 2677#comic

The Amish have an increased chance of being born with extra fingers?

Sentient AI · Post by **Sentient AI** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 4:39 pm

I'm not sure if the Amish keep families between the communities, and whether those communities are large enough to be genetically diverse enough to prevent inbreeding.
Just a bit of speculation for that.

sploder · Post by **sploder** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 5:08 pm

Its called the Founder effect. The o=founders of Amish communities had a higher than average genetic makeup favoring polydactyly, and if i recall correctly dwarfism in certain communities. due to the isolation of these communities, the prevalence remains or expands.

Sentient AI · Post by **Sentient AI** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 9:41 pm

Ah, that makes sense.
And neckbeards.

Lethal Interjection · Post by **Lethal Interjection** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 1:51 am

This was an interesting fact I did not know about.
So I did some wiki-ing on the topic.
There are some interesting versions of the founder effect.
Such as the deaf percentage of Martha's Vineyard.
Or one that I knew of (though I wouldn't have thought about it as founder effect): Ty-Sachs in Ashkenazi Jews.

tophernator · Post 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.

Salacious Schoolmate · Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:21 pm

"your comment sounds like a great premise for a comic" - nobody

GUTCHUCKER · Post by **GUTCHUCKER** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 2:08 pm

This nobody fellow is clearly wrong.

Lethal Interjection · Post by **Lethal Interjection** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:14 pm

Salacious Schoolmate wrote:"your comment sounds like a great premise for a comic" - nobody

I wish that guy would go ahead and make an account.

With pretty much every comic I think I would really like to hear nobody's opinions or comments about it.

Salacious Schoolmate · Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:33 pm

Oh, I think you'll be hearing from nobody pretty soon.

nobody, i think · Post by **nobody, i think** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:40 pm

Hey guys, I'm a sock puppet!

CuppaBro · Post by **CuppaBro** » Sat Jul 21, 2012 12:02 am

I speak for nobody when I say that July 20th's graph joke was effing hilarious.

Salacious Schoolmate · Sat Jul 21, 2012 12:25 am

STOP DERAILING THE THREAD

nobody haha what a guy

Keith · Post by **Keith** » Sat Jul 21, 2012 2:21 pm

Polydactyly is much more common through inbreeding. I live in an area with three Amish families which are barely diverse enough to call different families. They are borderline inbreeding if not already there.

Post by **Edminster** » Sat Jul 21, 2012 7:31 pm

thank you for your anecdote it is invaluable to our research

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[2012-Jul-19] Polydactyly

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