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Your Hands and Feet
Ever notice that the only place you have ridges on your skin is on the palms of your hands
and on the bottom of your feet? Why are they there? Well, in addition to giving you your
own unique fingerprints and footprints, these ridges are nature's way of giving you a better grip! Many scientists believe that our human ancestors spent at least part of their time climbing trees to get away from predators and to find food. By having ridged skin on their hands and feet, these early humans could get a better grip on branches, and in later times, make use of tools. Without the ridges to give them extra friction, whenever they tried to climb, they would slip off the branch!
