Identification of Osteological Features of Hind Limb Bones of an Animal (how to identify animal bones, anatomy of the body bones)
Hello and welcome. Hope you are fine. If you want to learn about the osteological features of different bones of the animal body (anatomy of the body bones), you are in the right place. Today, I will discuss identifying different osteological features of bones from the hind limb of an animal.
I already have discussed the identification of different osteological features of bones from the fore limb of an animal; you should complete those bones first. Here, you will learn how to identify animal bones from hind limbs with pictures (pictures of animal bones). I hope you have already completed the general terminology of anatomy.
Okay, let’s start to learn and identify the animal bone anatomy (fore limb’s bones)
I have told in a previous article that in each bone, we should complete the following points –
The shape of the bone with special characteristics
Location or direction of the bone
Surface, angle, and borders of the bone
How to identify (right or left) animal bone – this is more important to learn (handling of bones)
List of hind limb bones of an animal
First, we should know the list of hind limb bones of an animal. Here, we will learn and identify the osteological features of the followings bones –
Characteristics of an animal hip bones (includes – paired ilium bones, ischium, and pubis bones)
Femur bone
Tibia and fibula bones
Tarsal bones
Metatarsal bones
Sesamoid bones (proximal and distal sesamoid bones)
Phalanges (first, second and third phalanges)
Now, I will identify the osteological features of those bones separately.
Okay, let’s start to identify those bones.
Characteristics of an animal hip bone
They have paired bones, including – ilium, ischium, and pubis (right and left hip bones of animals). You should know the characteristics of an animal hip bone (clinical anatomy of hip bone).
Followings osteological features should be identified from the hip bones of an animal –
Paired ilium, ischium, and pubis (os coxarum)
Wing of ilium with the triangular area (at the anterior portion of ilium)
Tuber coxae or coxal tuber (at an external angle of the wing of ilium; laterally)
Sacral tuber or tuber sacrale (at an internal angle of wing; dorsomedial)
A gluteal line on ilium bone (dorsally on the gluteal surface; faint ridge; laterally)
Greater ischiatic notch (dorsally)
Psoas tubercle (medially)
Greater or superior ischiatic spine
Cotyloid cavity (laterally)
Acetabular notch
Lesser ischiatic notch (dors0-laterally at caudal portion of ischium)
Ischial tuberosity or tuber ischia
Ischial arch
Obturator foramen
“Please try to identify those structures serially from cranial to caudal portion of hip bone. Some structure faced dorsally and some are faced laterally or medially”.
Features from cranio-ventral part
n the cranio-ventral portion, we will identify the following osteological features –
Iliopubic eminence (prominence at the anterior border of pubis bones)
Supra acetabular fossa
Pelvic symphysis
Ventral tubercle (prominence in the middle of symphysis)
“Identification of right and left hip bones of animal is so easy. First, you should identify the ilium, ischium and pubis bones; ilium bone faced cranially, and coxal tuber from ilium bone faced cardio-laterally. You may also identify the right or left hip bone according to your ways. You may consider any features as a landmark to identify right or left hip bones.”
We should also know about the term transverse diameter (distance between two psoas tubercles) and conjugated diameter (distance between the body of sacrum and cranial end of pelvic symphysis). I will discuss it later in detail, or you may follow class lectures or books.
“I am not going details the anatomy of the hip bones of an animal. Here, I am trying to identify the important osteological features of hip bones.
Anatomy of hip bone images
Parts of the femur anatomy
As you know, the femur is the largest long bone and is directed downward and forward. It has a body and two expanded ends (proximal extremity and distal extremity). The body is cylindrical in the middle (also called round bone) and has three-sided. It has four surfaces (cranial, medial, lateral, and caudal surface). We will identify the following osteological features from the different parts of the femur anatomy –
In the proximal extremity of the femur
You will find the following structures –
Head of the femur (round, smooth, expanded area; faced medially; you may consider it as a landmark to identify the right or left femur)
Fovea capitis femoris in the middle of the head (small depression; medially)
Neck (constricted area below the head)
Greater trochanter of the femur (faced laterally)
Lesser trochanter of the femur (faced caudomedial)
Trochanteric ridge (connect greater trochanter to lesser trochanter)
Trochanteric fossa (faced dorsocaudally; between the ridge and medial aspect of head)
Third trochanter (in the case of horse; at the lateral border of the femur)
In the distal extremity of the femur, you will find the followings structures –
Trochlea of the femur (anteriorly)
Lateral and medial condyle of the femur (faced posteriorly; also identify medial and lateral epicondyle)
Intercondyloid groove (between two condyles; faced caudal – ventral)
Supracondyloid fossa (faced posterior – laterally aspect of the femur)
“You need to know the clinical anatomy of femur. Hope I will provide anatomy of femur bone ppt soon.”
How to identify right or left femur bone
First, you need to identify the proximal and distal end (head in proximal part; faced medially), then identify the greater trochanter laterally. In the distal portion, you should identify trochlea (faced anteriorly) and condyle (posteriorly). Thus, you may identify the right or left femur (for better understanding, please watch video or pictures or follow the class lectures)
Anatomy of the patella of animal
Patella is a triangular sesamoid bone and has an apex, base, and two surfaces (anterior and posterior), three borders (dorsal, lateral, and medial border), and three angles (lateral angle, medial angle, and ventral angle)
“You should have a better idea on surface, border, and angles.”
First, you need to identify the apex and base of the patella bone of the animal.
Generally, the apex is blunt, and the base is pointed.
The anterior surface is convex, and the posterior surface is concave
You should also know the anatomy of the patellar tendon.
Anatomy of tibia and fibula bone
The tibia is the longest strong bone of an animal and is directed downward and backward. It also has a body (twisted upper portion; narrow, flat lower portion), two extremities, and three surfaces (lateral, medial, and posterior). The fibula is fused with the tibia at its lateral condyle. We will identify the following structures from the anatomy of the tibia and fibula bone –
In the proximal extremity, you need to identify –
Tibial spine (faced dorsally, bifid)
Tibial crest (prominent line located at the anterior border of the tibia)
Tibial tuberosity (above tibial crest)
The concave lateral surface at a body of the tibia
Popliteal line (at the posterior surface)
Interosseous space between tibia and fibula at a proximal portion of bone
In the distal extremity, you need to identify –
Groove for the articulation of tibial tarsal bones
How to identify the right or left tibia of animal
First, you need to identify the proximal (consists of spine, condyle) and distal (groove for the articulation of tibial tarsal bones) part of the tibia. Then you need to identify the tibial crest (faced anteriorly) and the concave portion of the tibia shaft that faced laterally. Or, you may identify the fibula fused with the lateral condyle of the tibia (so, fibula faced laterally). Thus, you may identify the right and left tibia.
“You need to watch videos or pictures for better understand.”
Anatomy of tarsal bone
There are also two rows of tarsal bones (five in total number) in ruminant – proximal tarsal bones (tibial tarsal or talus and fibular tarsal or calcaneus) and distal tarsal bones (central and fourth fused, second and third fused and first tarsal bones).
Now, you need to identify the tibial tarsal (talus) and fibular tarsal (calcaneus) practically –
Fibular tarsal or calcaneus bone (elongated, faced laterally; posterior to the tibial tarsal)
Tibial tarsal or talus (elongated pully-like structure)
Calcaneous tubercle (proximal rough area of calcaneus bone)
“You should know the clinical anatomy of calcaneous bone from veterinary applied anatomy portion.”
Anatomy of the metatarsal bones
Metatarsal bones’ anatomy is almost similar to the anatomy of metacarpal bones. So, you may get help from the previous article. Now you should differentiate metatarsal bones from the metacarpal bone of animals in the followings ways –
The metatarsal bone is four-sided, whereas the metacarpal bone is irregularly cylindrical.
The small metatarsal bone is fused with the medial aspect of the metatarsal bone. Still, in the metacarpal bone, the small metacarpal bone is fused with the metacarpal at its lateral aspect.
The longitudinal groove of the metatarsal is deeper than the longitudinal groove of the metacarpal.
Sesamoid and phalanges of hind limb
The anatomy of sesamoid bones and phalanges of the hind limb is almost similar to the anatomy of sesamoid bones and phalanges of a fore limb. So you may visit previous articles and memorize them.
There are also four sesamoid bones (two for each digit, in the case of a ruminant) at the posterior aspect of the metacarpal at its distal end (proximal sesamoid bones). In distal sesamoid (navicular bone), you will find two (one for each digit; in the case of a ruminant) in the posterior portion between the second and third phalanges.
Anatomy of phalanges
You will find three phalanges in each digit as you found fore limb before – first, second and third phalanges.
Here, we also need to identify the following structure –
The proximal concave articular surface of the first phalange
Articular facets for sesamoid bones at the posterior aspect of the first phalanges
Larger lateral condyle
Second phalanges (consists of three surfaces)
Third phalanges (consists of four surfaces and are hoof-shaped)
Conclusion
I hope you have an idea of the osteological features of the hind limb’s bones of the animal body (anatomy of the body bones). I think you know how to identify animal bones from hind limbs with pictures (get help from pictures of animal bones). You may also learn the basic anatomy of the organs from the DIFFERENT SYSTEM OF ANIMAL BODY. If you want to know (learn) more about the anatomy of animal body bones, you should follow class lectures or go through the BOOKS.
You should know the osteological features of the skull bones of animals and the osteological features of vertebra bones of the animal.
“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.