Animal Muscle Anatomy – Identification of Muscles of Fore Limb of Animals

Identification of muscles of fore limb of animal (animal muscle anatomy)

Hello and welcome again. I hope you are doing well and have completed the previous articles on osteology and syndesmology; if you missed those articles, I recommend you visit those links.

Today, I will identify the gross anatomy of animal muscle. First, I am going to start with – Identification of muscles of the fore limb of an animal (animal muscle anatomy). I hope to complete full animal or goat muscle anatomy (anatomy of muscle building) sequentially.

Before starting, you should know the basics of the myology of the animal body. You should know the term like the muscle’s origin, insertion of the muscle, extrinsic muscle, intrinsic muscle, extensor group of muscle, and flexor group of muscle.

As I am going to identify only the most important muscles of the fore limb of an animal (animal muscle anatomy), I am not providing in-depth or detailed information on those terms.

The origin of a muscle is that attachment (proximal attachment) which remains more stationary during the movement of body muscles. Insertion of muscle is that attachment (distal attachment) that remains less stationary during the movement of muscles.

Extensor group muscles are present at a cranio-lateral aspect of an animal’s forearm and leg region; flexor group muscles are present at the caudomedial aspect of the forearm and leg region of the animal.

“If you want to learn more about the term related to muscle of animal body, follow class lecture or books.”

Requirements of learning

It would be best if you had a basic idea of an animal’s fore limb bones (name of bones, important features of bone). If you have the basic idea, then you may continue. If you don’t have or if you want to memorize, then visit this link – Identification of Osteological Features of Fore Limb’s Bones of Animal (how to identify animal bones, anatomy of the body bones)

Or you may learn from here –

We should memorize the following bones (with important osteological features) from the fore limb of animal –

  • Scapula bone
  • Humerus bone
  • Radius and ulna bones
  • Carpal bones
  • Metacarpal bones and
  • Phalanges

List of the muscle of fore limb of an animal

In this article, we will learn and identify the following list of the muscle of fore limb of animals –

Lateral aspect of the arm

We need to identify the followings muscles from the lateral aspect of an arm of an animal-

  • Infraspinatus muscle
  • Supraspinatus muscle
  • Tensor fascia antebrachial muscles
  • The long head of the triceps brachii muscle
  • The lateral head of the triceps brachii muscle
  • Deltoid muscle
  • Biceps brachii muscle
  • Brachialis muscle
  • Anconeus muscle

An infraspinatus muscle is thick and located in the infraspinous fossa of the scapula. The Supraspinatus muscle is located in the supraspinous fossa of the scapula.

The tensor fascia antebrachial muscle is situated at the posteromedial aspect of the long head of the triceps brachii muscle.

Triceps brachii muscles have three parts or head – long head, lateral head, and medial head. The long head of the triceps brachii is triangular and the largest of the three parts. The lateral head of the triceps brachii muscle is also triangular and located below the long head of the triceps brachii muscle.

A deltoid muscle is located at the lateral aspect of the shoulder joint of the fore limb of an animal, and it is V-shaped in appearance.

Biceps brachii muscle is located in front of the humerus bone of the fore limb of an animal, and it is an elongated spindle shaped in appearance.

The brachialis muscle is located at the lateral surface of the humerus at the musculospiral groove (beneath the biceps brachii muscle)

Under the triceps brachii muscle, you will find a small muscle covering the olecranon fossa of the humerus bone of an animal.

Medial aspect of the arm

We will identify the following muscles from the medial aspect of the arm of the animal –

  • Coracobrachialis muscle
  • Subscapularis muscle
  • Teres major muscle
  • The medial head of the triceps brachii muscle

Coracobrachialis muscle is located at the medial aspect of the humerus bone and is a small elongated shape.

The subscapularis muscle is located at the medial aspect of the scapula bone and logged with the subscapularis fossa.

Teres major muscle is located at the caudal border of the subscapular muscle and is a thin elongated muscle.

The medial head of the triceps brachii muscle is the smallest muscle of the triceps brachii muscle and is located at the medial aspect of the humerus bone.

Extensor group muscle of fore limb of animal (a cranio-lateral aspect of the forearm to manus)

We will identify the following muscles from the cranio-lateral aspect of the radius ulna bone –

  • Extensor carpi radialis muscle
  • Medial digital extensor muscle
  • Common digital extensor muscle
  • Lateral digital extensor muscle
  • Ulnaris lateralis muscle

“The name of extensor group muscles is based on their supply and their location. Like extensor carpi radialis; it is grouped in extensor muscle group, it supplied to carpal bones and it is located at in front of the radial bone.”

Extensor carpi radialis muscle is located vertically at the anterior aspect of the radius bone. The medial digital extensor is located behind the extensor carpi radialis muscle. The common digital extensor muscle is located parallel to the medial digital extensor muscle and supplies to digits of the fore limb of an animal.

The lateral digital extensor is located between the common digital extensor muscle and the ulnaris lateralis muscle. It is the thicker muscle of the extensor group of the fore limb of an animal. Ulnaris lateralis is located at the posterior aspect of the radius bone and lateral aspect of the ulna bone.

Flexor group muscle of fore limb of animal (a caudomedial aspect of the forearm to manus)

We will identify the following muscles from the caudolateral aspect of the radius and ulna bones –

  • Flexor carpi radialis muscle
  • Flexor digitorum profundus muscle
  • Flexor carpi ulnaris muscle
  • Flexor digitorum superficialis muscle
  • Deep digital flexor muscle

The flexor carpi radialis muscle is located at the medial aspect of the radius bone. It is a long slender muscle. Flexor carpi ulnaris muscle is located at the posteromedial aspect of the ulna bone. It is a thin and flat muscle.

The flexor digitorum superficialis muscle is covered by the flexor carpi ulnaris muscle at the middle portion; the deep digital flexor muscle is located beneath the flexor digitorum superficialis muscle.

Conclusion

I hope this article helps you identify the muscles of the fore limb of an animal (animal muscle anatomy). If you want to learn and identify the full animal or goat muscle anatomy (anatomy of muscle building) sequentially, stay connected with me or follow the upcoming articles. I hope I will help you learn the rest of the animal muscle anatomy with pictures and videos (muscle of the hind limb, head, neck, thorax, and abdomen).

If you think that information is insufficient, I recommend you learn from class lectures or books. Again, if you want to learn the basic anatomy from the DIFFERENT SYSTEM OF ANIMAL BODY, you may visit this link and start to learn your desired organ system.

“If possible, I will update or enrich the information on this topic in future.”

If there is any mistake in the above information or if you have any suggestions for me, please, let me know in the comment box. Thank you so much.

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