Six-Fingered Aye-Ayes and Giant Pandas
Research from 2019 showed that aye-ayes have a sixth finger, or as scientists call it, an “accessory digit.” Giant pandas also feature an extra finger on top of the usual five per hand. Same for moles and some extinct reptiles, which they use for digging. Like the giant panda, however, aye-ayes use their sixth finger to enhance their grasping abilities, making this a good example of convergent evolution.
Fascinatingly, the accessory digit in aye-ayes and giant pandas is an example of convergent evolution as a consequence of contingent evolution. Both animals evolved highly specialized hands not suited for climbing, resulting in an evolutionary pressure to produce a sixth finger.
