When you stay in the bathtub or play in the water for long, your fingers and toes (even palms and feet) get wrinkly. This is because of the run-off oil in your skin.
Glands in your skin secrete an oily or waxy matter called sebum to lubricate and waterproof the skin. That’s why water runs off your skin when you wash your body. But when you soak it longer in water, the sebum gets washed off leaving your fingers and toes to wrinkle. But the rest of our skin doesn’t tend to wrinkle in this way. One explanation for this is – researchers believe wrinkly fingers could be an automatic nervous system reaction and may have had an evolutionary function. Scientists think wrinkling may give us better grip in water. It could have helped our ancestors to gather food from underwater and to walk on wet surfaces.
Picture Credit : Google