Determination of Armspan and Foot Length between the Ijaw and Ikwerre Ethnic Group in Nigeria

This study was conducted to determine the average armspan and foot lenght of the Ijaw and the Ikwerre Ethnic group; to determine if there are ethnic and racial differences in these two parameters. Also, to examine if the arm span is a reliable substitute for human height in an anthropological study for these two Ethnic groups. One thousand subjects (500 Ijaws and 500 Ikwerre people) where used for this study. The places where this research was conducted are: University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State; Choba community; Yenagoa; Amasoma community, Bayelsa State. The morphological measurements are armspan and foot length. The mean Armspan length of Ijaw male subject was 188.4±9.48 cm, while for Ikwerre male subjects was 174.8±10.1 cm, the armspan length of Ijaw male was significantly higher than that of the Ikwerre males (p<0.05). The mean armspan for Ijaw females was 171.7±11.3 cm. While the mean armspan value of Ikwerre female subjects was 166.4±8.34 cm. The Ijaw females armspan was significantly higher than that of the Ikwerre females (p<0.05). The mean footlenght of Ijaw males was 27.9±1.59 cm and the mean value of Ikwerre male foot length was 24.8±2.1 cm.The mean foot length of the Ijaw males was significantly higher than that of the Ikwerre males foot length (p<0.05). The foot length of the Ijaw females was 25.9±1.92 cm. While it was 24.1±1.85 cm for Ikwerre Females. The foot length of the Ijaw females was significantly higher than that of the the Ikwerre females (p<0.05). When these results were compared with other races from previous studies, there were racial differences. This data is recommended to forensic and physical anthropologist.