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This dolphin has thumbs and has never been seen before
ANIMALS – This little dolphin is surprising. Spotted twice in Greece this summer, this unique creature jumps, plays, swims and… gives a thumbs up. Yes, you read that right, this animal is the only specimen ever seen with pectoral fins, the shape of which largely resembles that of a thumb… and for good reason.
It was the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute that discovered it in July during a survey in the Gulf of Corinth. A few months later, in early December, the website Live Science asked its president about this incredible discovery: “This is the first time in 30 years of research and studies that we have observed this fin shape,” he marvels. The most surprising thing is the symmetry: the dolphin has not one, but two identical thumbs on each side!
The hidden hands of dolphins
The fact that a dolphin has fingers is nothing new. In fact, these animals are among the only mammals to have developed a bone structure in their forelimbs that is so similar to the (very) distant relatives of Homo sapiens. But unlike us, they have thick tissue that covers their fingers and forms the fin.
Photos of the “Thumbs” by Alexandros Frantzis
This is what distinguishes the mammal found by the Pelagos Institute from its counterparts: it is missing its fingers and part of the tissue covering them. This creates a hollow between the thumb and the remaining fingers due to the missing skin and bones. That's why it has those unusual “thumbs” that can be seen in the photos above. However, this would not be due to illness.
The scientists interviewed by Live Science assume that there was a genetic variation in the formation of the fin, which would have led to the atrophy of the other fingers. This mutation would arise from crossbreeding with other whale species, a fairly common phenomenon in species with few representatives. This is the case of the “thumbed dolphin”, the species of striped dolphins, of which there are actually only 1,300 specimens on the Greek coast.
The crossover hypothesis becomes even more likely when we consider the environment in which this exception to nature develops. In the Gulf of Corinth, as in other parts of the world, researchers have observed different species of dolphins swimming together in a pod. A situation that obviously favors genetic crossing.
But does our dolphin suffer from its peculiarity? Even if the thumb is not movable and therefore he cannot use it, this does not cause him any swimming problems. The scientists were also able to determine that he was perfectly integrated into his community.
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