What Six-Toed Cats Tell Us About Genetic Development

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What Six-Toed Cats Tell Us About Genetic Development - Literary Hub

Sailors once believed that six-toed cats could bring good luck on ships. These so-called mitten cats were thought to make better mousers because their broad paws could balance them while at sea. Stanley Dexter, a sea captain, had a litter of these cats and gave one to his pal Ernest Hemingway, who was living in Key West at the time. This kitten, Snow White, gave rise to a lineage of six-toed cats that thrives to this day at the Hemingway estate. Besides being a highlight for tourists, these cats have played a role in a new conception of the workings of the genome.

People, too, occasionally have extra fingers and toes. About one in every thousand people is born with an extra digit in the hand or foot. In an extreme case, in 2010, a boy in India was born with thirty-four digits. Extra fingers can appear on the thumb side or the pinky side, or in split and forked fingers. Additional digits on the thumb side, known as preaxial polydactyly, are particularly important biologically.
 
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