Are The Prints On Our Toes Identical To Our Fingerprints? - How It Works

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Are the prints on our toes identical to our fingerprints?

by How It Works Team · 30/12/2012

Your fingerprints on each finger and each toe are different from all your other fingers and toes, and also totally unique to you. They are ridges and folds of skin, which help with improved sensation and, to a degree, better grip. Fingerprints are formed from three basic patterns – arches, loops and whorls – with many patterns being formed from combinations of these. Your actual fingerprints develop while you’re still a foetus in your mother’s uterus. The pressure on the fingertips, movement within the womb and thickness of the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby all affect the patterns that form. Although inherited genes will also dictate the pattern of the fingerprints – even identical twins have different prints due to the varying environmental exposure in the womb.

Answered by Aneel Bhangu.

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