Why do fingers wrinkle when we spend a lot of time in the water?

When we spend a lot of time in the water, the fingers wrinkle. During childhood this usually meant it was time to get out of the pool or bath. Today, of course, there is a much more interesting reason why nature makes this phenomenon possible.

According to a study published by the Royal Society of London in the journal Biology Letters, the purpose of this wrinkle is to increase grip so that humans can better hold wet or underwater objects. In the words of researcher Tom Smulders, who is responsible for the research, "finger wrinkling may have helped our ancestors get food in wetter regions."

Already the wrinkles that appear on the feet lead researchers to believe that this way, humans could run better on rainy days. To reach these conclusions, we analyzed data from volunteers who tried to pick up marble pieces with normal fingers and then wrinkled.

However, if the study is right, a mystery remains: why don't we have our fingers permanently wrinkled? According to the newspaper El Mundo, scientists believe that if this happened, people would have decreased finger sensitivity, which would lead to more injuries and accidents. In addition, researchers also investigate how the phenomenon happens in other animal species.