Question: why do we have nails

Ryan Cheale answered on 25 Jun 2015:

The more likely reason is that these structures are useful. Fingernails help humans to scratch things, peel fruit, open things, pick away the outer layers of other edibles, undo knots, and perform a variety of other tasks. In a more distant past, they probably assisted humans with the capture of body lice, as is still seen among the great apes. When the feet were used more like hands, toenails served a similar function, helping humans to open vital food objects, strip bark to build structures, and other such things.

Fingernails help the hands to grip things and start rips and tears. Having them out of commission makes it much more difficult to scratch itches, clean the hair and scalp, open foods, and perform a wide variety of delicate manipulations with the hands. Toenails may not be quite as useful, but when a person imagines the feet as hands, their presence makes much more sense.

It might not be so obvious in the modern age as we have things to do things for us but it’s an evolutionary thing! They could also well be like flattened claws from millions of years ago!