Dexterity

[mrmitchell]

Make them viciously Conservative in addition, then.

Reptilian conservatives? Winston, he can't well make his characters TOTALLY like you.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by ajbera
I think it would have a minimal impact on dexterity, and by extension minimal difference between tools and weapons of 3 & 4 fingered animals (the thumb ain't a finger).

However, their number system would probably be base 8 instead of base 10.

I knew that -- that is why in part of my OP, I used the word digits, but in another part I slipped and referred to all of them as fingers. I editted that -- thanks.


Also, good point in raising the issue of number of digits influencing what kind of number system the people would have. Never thought of that!

[MrFun]

One other thing too -- how would four toes instead of five, on each of two feet affect walking, running, stance, and posture?

Not very much, I would think, right?

[Winston]

Originally posted by mrmitchell

Reptilian conservatives? Winston, he can't well make his characters TOTALLY like you.

/me wiggles tail in amusement and gulps down another nice juicy rodent

[Starchild]

Originally posted by MrFun


Can you be a little more specific? You mean fisting would be a much more popular form of gripping and there would be less handling of smaller objects by using two fingers in a pinching manner?

OMG MAN, HE MEANS THE INSERTION OF THE FIST INTO AN ORIFICE FOR THE PURSUIT OF SEXUAL GRATIFICATION.

[Timexwatch]

OMG MAN, HE MEANS THE INSERTION OF THE FIST INTO AN ORIFICE FOR THE PURSUIT OF SEXUAL GRATIFICATION.

Seriously, isn't that in the handbook? How could one forget?

[Winston]

I thought he meant fishing would be more popular.

[Timexwatch]

That's like fishing out of a barrel.

[Harry Tuttle]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[Mercator]

They'd have managed just fine, I imagine. One difference I can think of is that their numbering system would be octal rather than decimal.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Starchild


OMG MAN, HE MEANS THE INSERTION OF THE FIST INTO AN ORIFICE FOR THE PURSUIT OF SEXUAL GRATIFICATION.

Come here, I have a secret . . . . .

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Mercator



They'd have managed just fine, I imagine. One difference I can think of is that their numbering system would be octal rather than decimal.

I will have to keep this in mind.


Now, about the question regarding toes . . . . .

[Odin]

I would be a bit more creative in the natomy and physiology departments. To expect an intellegent species on a another planet to have a body plan that similar to the body plan of Terran terrestrial vertebrates is madness. Give your creatures an extra pair of limbs, different general arrangement of the skellaton and possitions of the sense organs and orfaces, etc. Have thier bones made out of, say, calcium carbonate instead of our calcium phosphate bones. Make them distinctive organisms, not humanoids with scales.

[Timexwatch]

I have two words:

Backwards Kneecaps.

Watch "The Arrival" with Charlie Sheen to see what I'm talking about.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Winston
I don't see how it could make much of a difference whether there's 4 or 5 digits, as long as the thumb's located in an opposite position.

Boring.

Why not let them have 12 sexual organs, each placed in highly imaginative spots, or big purple and orange wings coming out of their hips. With sexual organs at the tips.

Ah, finally, we're getting to hear about Winston's sexual fantasies