Finger-Prints of the New Zealand Maori

Abstract

The data relating to finger-print patterns of 430 Maori males and 236 Maori females are presented. The overall percentage of whorls is very high, and that of loops and arches particularly low :Males: whorls=68.77%; loops=30.77%; arches=0.46% Females: whorls=63.47%; loops=35.89%; arches=0.64%.In the case of pure-blood and near pure-blood Maoris (Tuhoe) the whorl percentages are higher (65 males=77.08% ; 86 females=68.60 %) than in the samples obtained from police records which unquestionably include larger numbers of Maori-European hybrids. The former figures approximate to those of Central (Society Island) Polynesians (Maupiti Is.), while the latter are closer to those of Samoans (probably similarly hybridised).The whorl percentages in Maoris are exceeded-apart from the Maupiti Polynesians-by only a few population groups (Mangyans of Mindoro, Oroks of Sakhalin), in which the sample sizes are small and may not have been adequate. The high whorl percentaged of Australian aborigines from East Arnhem Land (male=77.6%; female=73.1%) are considerably higher than those of other aborigines so far studied; and the high whorl percentage of East Greenland Eskimos (male and female=72.2%) is suspect because of the familial relationship of the persons involved.The high percentage of all-whorl combinations in the Maori accounts for the high degree of obligatory symmetry, and for the characteristic form of thebimanuar. The total frequency of pairs of fingers bearing the same pattern type is, however, comparable with that recorded for other races.