Polydactyly in early tetrapods

Alright kiddo, so you know how most animals have five fingers or toes, right? Well, some animals can actually have more than that! This is called polydactyly.

We're going to talk about a group of animals called tetrapods, which are animals with four limbs, like us humans! Back in the olden days, tetrapods looked a lot different than they do now. They were still learning how to walk on land, and they had some pretty funky features.

One of those features was polydactyly. Some early tetrapods had six or even seven toes! Scientists aren't exactly sure why this happened, but they think it might have helped these animals walk on rough or uneven terrain.

Over time, as tetrapods evolved and learned how to walk better, polydactyly became less common. Today, most tetrapods only have five toes. But some animals, like cats and dogs, can still be born with extra toes. And of course, humans can have extra fingers or toes too, although it's not very common.

So there you have it, kiddo! Polydactyly is when animals have extra toes or fingers, and some early tetrapods had it because it helped them walk better.