Doesn't necessarily need to be effective motor function: it's a probe that provides tactile feedback, both for posture and balance, as well as being the one who

Doesn't necessarily need to be effective motor function: it's a probe that provides tactile feedback, both for posture and balance, as well as being the one who gets hit often - being on the outer edge - possibly saving more critical foot areas from irreparable damage. By way of consequence it's helpful when fully functional but not essential as you are prone to hit it by "design" and make it temporarily nonfunctional every so often, all without impairing the whole foot function critical for bipedal walk as humans do it. Also, redundancy: when you break some other toe you're super glad there's a pinky, however comparatively small and weak. Anecdata: as a skateboarder it's obvious (sometimes painfully so) how every toe matters to get the most information from beneath one's feet.