There is a thread from 2005 that brought this up, but it only had 3 responses. The thread discussing the Taino DNA results of ancestry.com etc. got me thinking about it again. Genetics is an interest of mine and I've always been curious about this specific topic.
There is a large amount of people that I have encountered in the DR with polydactylism (extra digits). By a large amount, I would say about 20? people since I have volunteered, worked and visited over the past five or so years. I definitely haven't encountered as many individuals with extra digits in other places, but that is mostly based on travel to colder countries where it might not be as apparent.
My initial experience was in Cabarete when I volunteered there several years ago. A Haitian boy I worked with had been born with tiny extra fingers on both hands. A group of American doctors had removed the one on his right hand early on, but after discussion with her community, the mother decided that it was not a good idea to remove the other.
Since then, I have come across what I would consider a high number people with polydactylism. I haven't encountered it elsewhere in the Caribbean, but then I haven't spent as much time in other Caribbean countries as I have in the DR. I know a woman from San Pedro, originally from Antigua, who has 12 fingers and 12 toes. She told me she knows at least a dozen people with polydactylism that she isn't related to, and that it's just widely accepted. She didn't say anything about the extra digits being "lucky", as was mentioned in the old thread.
There is higher frequency of polydactylism in certain ethnic groups; for example it is prevalent a tribe in Ecuador. But the genetics can get somewhat complicated, as the link I will include explains. It can also be an indicator of a larger syndrome, as present in a certain Amish group.
http://http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/polydactyly
Is anyone aware of studies on this topic that are specific to the Dominican Republic or Haiti?
There is a large amount of people that I have encountered in the DR with polydactylism (extra digits). By a large amount, I would say about 20? people since I have volunteered, worked and visited over the past five or so years. I definitely haven't encountered as many individuals with extra digits in other places, but that is mostly based on travel to colder countries where it might not be as apparent.
My initial experience was in Cabarete when I volunteered there several years ago. A Haitian boy I worked with had been born with tiny extra fingers on both hands. A group of American doctors had removed the one on his right hand early on, but after discussion with her community, the mother decided that it was not a good idea to remove the other.
Since then, I have come across what I would consider a high number people with polydactylism. I haven't encountered it elsewhere in the Caribbean, but then I haven't spent as much time in other Caribbean countries as I have in the DR. I know a woman from San Pedro, originally from Antigua, who has 12 fingers and 12 toes. She told me she knows at least a dozen people with polydactylism that she isn't related to, and that it's just widely accepted. She didn't say anything about the extra digits being "lucky", as was mentioned in the old thread.
There is higher frequency of polydactylism in certain ethnic groups; for example it is prevalent a tribe in Ecuador. But the genetics can get somewhat complicated, as the link I will include explains. It can also be an indicator of a larger syndrome, as present in a certain Amish group.
http://http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/polydactyly
Is anyone aware of studies on this topic that are specific to the Dominican Republic or Haiti?