page_title: Vadoma
section_title: Ectrodactyly
hierarchical_section_title: Vadoma / Ectrodactyly
caption_attribution_description: Español: Familia con ectrodactilia, perteneciente a la Tribu de los VadomaEnglish: Vadoma people with ectrodactyly
context_page_description: The Doma or vaDoma, also known as Dema, are a tribe living in the Kanyemba region in the north of Zimbabwe, especially in the Urungwe and Sipolilo districts around the basins of Mwazamutanda River, a tributary of the Zambezi River Valley. They are the only traditional hunter-gatherers indigenous to Zimbabwe and famous for the inherited ectrodactyly existing among some vaDoma families.
context_section_description: A substantial minority of vaDoma has a condition known as ectrodactyly in which the middle three toes are absent and the two outer ones are turned in, resulting in the tribe being known as the "two-toed" or "ostrich-footed" tribe. This is an autosomal dominant condition resulting from a single mutation on chromosome number 7. It is reported that those with the condition are not handicapped and are well integrated into the tribe. While possibly an aid in tree climbing, the condition prevails because of a small genetic pool among the vaDoma and is propagated by the tribal law that forbids members to marry outside the group.
  Due to the vaDoma tribe's isolation, they have developed and maintained ectrodactyly, and their comparatively small gene pool has resulted in the condition being much more frequent than elsewhere. The Eastern Shona Kalanga of the Kalahari Desert also have a number of members with ectrodactyly and may be related.
caption: Vadoma people with ectrodactyly
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