Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The number of phalanges in animals is often expressed as a "phalangeal formula" that indicates the numbers of phalanges in digits, beginning from the innermost medial or proximal. For example, humans have a 2-3-3-3-3 formula for the hand , meaning that the thumb has two phalanges, whilst the other fingers each have three.
Claws grow out of the third phalanges of the paws and are made of keratin. Many predatory mammals have protractile claws that can partially hide inside the animal's paw, especially the cat family, Felidae, almost all of whose members have fully protractible claws.
A long bone is one that is cylindrical in shape, being longer than it is wide. However, the term describes the shape of a bone, not its size, which is relative. Long bones are found in the arms (humerus, ulna, radius) and legs (femur, tibia, fibula), as well as in the fingers (metacarpals, phalanges) and toes (metatarsals, phalanges).
A finger is a prominent digit on the forelimbs of most tetrapod vertebrate animals, especially those with prehensile extremities (i.e. hands) such as humans and other primates. Most tetrapods have five digits ( pentadactyly ), [ 1 ] [ 2 ] and short digits (i.e. significantly shorter than the metacarpal / metatarsals ) are typically referred to ...
A digitigrade animal is one that stands or walks with its toes (phalanges) on the ground, and the rest of its foot lifted. Digitigrades include birds (what many see as bird's knees are actually ankles), cats, dogs, and many other mammals, but not plantigrades (such as humans) or unguligrades (such as horses). Digitigrades generally move more ...
The bones and joints of the equine forelimb distal to the wrist (or carpus): The fetlock (metacarpophalangeal joint) is located between the cannon bone (third metacarpal) and the long pastern bone (proximal phalanx). The pastern joint (proximal interphalangeal joint) is located between the long pastern bone and the short pastern bone (middle ...
The coffin bone, also known as the pedal bone (U.S.), is the distal phalanx, the bottommost bone in the front and rear legs of horses, cattle, pigs and other ruminants. It is encased by the hoof capsule. In horses and other odd-toed ungulates it is the third phalanx, or "P3"; in even-toed ungulates such as cattle, it is the third and fourth (P3 ...
Whales and their relatives have a soft tissue flipper that encases most of the forelimb, and elongated digits with an increased number of phalanges. [9] Hyperphalangy is an increase in the number of phalanges beyond the plesiomorphic mammal condition of three phalanges-per-digit. [10]