From the Depths of Wikipedia

That's why I need wider shoes. My second toe isn't a *lot* longer than the thumb toe, but over time my pinkie toe will tear a hole in the top of a shoe, I guess because it wasn't wide enough. It's always been hard finding shoes that fit well.

I'll have to see if wider shoes works better for either of my kids. I never made the connection that my long toes would make me need wider shoes, it seemed counter intuitive.

In grade school and early highschool I could pick up pencils and such using my long toes and manipulate my toes individually, but by college age I lost the ability to move them individually. I can still pick up things using my feet but not with anywhere near the toe-dexterity I had as a kid. Even more fun was that I could climb some trees kinda like a squirrel by gripping onto the sides when I couldn't get my arms all the way around em. That was probably more a function of how small and light I was and being a precocious climber; I climbed up bookshelves before I could walk (which was exciting for my parents, I'm sure! they have some pretty tall built-ins in their house).