12 surprising facts about fingerprints, including why we even have them

Monkeys and apes have fingerprints that function similarly to humans. But the koala, which is a very distant relative of the human, is the only other animal that also has fingerprints that look and act like ours.

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As you get older, it’s natural for your skin to change with age. But wrinkling doesn’t come for your fingertips, which means you can expect your fingerprints to remain the same as the day they were formed.

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Scientists categorise fingerprint patterns as either a whorl, loop or arch. The arrangement and placement of them are what make your fingerprints a unique identifier. And according to science, the patterns are all thanks to genetics, similar to the rarest eye colour or the rarest hair colour.

Entering into an agreement in ancient Babylon? You could use a fingerprint to seal it. This suggests people living under the reign of Hammurabi understood the special nature of fingerprints.

“Other species of animals, like mice, have simpler sets of ridges on their fingers (or digits, to use a more technical term) than climbing animals do,” Headon says. “Some monkeys use their tails like a fifth limb to help them with climbing, and the skin on the underside of their tail has the same ridges as we have on our palms and soles, though not the more complex arch, loop or whorl swirls found at our fingertips.”

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Source: rd.com