Wednesday 22 July 2015

#654 Plantigrades, Digitigrades, and Unguligrades . . . land animals


Please see the previous two posts for more information about this subject.
The focus of this blog is four basic types of land animals which are:
Plantigrades, Digitigrades, and Unguligrades . . . both odd-toed and even-toed.

1.  Plantigrades are slow land animals such as bears, raccoons, squirrels, etc. and the paws
 function similar to human hands.  The drawings below are from one of my journals and sketchbook.






2.  Digitigrades are intermediate speed land animals such as dogs, cats, birds, and most mammals.
Surprisingly, elephants are included in this group . . . much more about elephant anatomy in an upcoming blog.
Also, birds - who stand upright like humans -  are included in this group.
Digitigrades walk on the pad of the foot and hand as shown in the drawings below.








3.  Even-toed Unguligrades are faster land animals such as deer, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, antelope, giraffe, etc.
  I can find no info on why they are called "toed" instead of "fingered".
Below is a drawing of a cow that shows hand and foot basics followed by that of a deer.






4. Odd-toed Unguligrades are fast land animals such as rhinos and horses.
The lower leg and arm is the foot and hand region and the animal walks and runs on the toe and finger.
Below, a drawing of a horse shows hand [thoracic limb] and foot [pelvic limb] basics.




                                                                                            
Go to the BLOG INDEX and Reference Page for more information.  See post #616 and #655

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish


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