View source for Third metacarpal styloid process

{{Short description|Hand bone}}
The '''[[Third metacarpal bone|third metacarpal]] styloid process''' enables the hand bone to lock into the wrist bones, allowing for greater amounts of pressure to be applied to the [[wrist]] and [[hand]] from a grasping thumb and fingers. It allows [[humans]] the dexterity and strength to [[Human evolution#Use of tools|make and use complex tools]]. This unique anatomical feature separates humans from apes and other nonhuman primates, and is not seen in human fossils older than 1.8 million years.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1073/pnas.1316014110|title=Early Pleistocene third metacarpal from Kenya and the evolution of modern human-like hand morphology | pmid=24344276 | pmc=3890866|volume=111|issue=1|date=Jan 2014|journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A|pages=121–4|doi-access=free |last1=Ward |first1=Carol V. |last2=Tocheri |first2=Matthew W. |last3=Plavcan |first3=J. Michael |last4=Brown |first4=Francis H. |last5=Manthi |first5=Fredrick Kyalo |bibcode=2014PNAS..111..121W }}</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:Bones of the hand]]
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