Bird feet and legs
Hindlimbs primarily used for the anchoring and locomotion of avians / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The anatomy of bird legs and feet is diverse, encompassing many accommodations to perform a wide variety of functions.[1]
Most birds are classified as digitigrade animals, meaning they walk on their toes rather than the entire foot.[3][4] Some of the lower bones of the foot (the distals and most of the metatarsal) are fused to form the tarsometatarsus – a third segment of the leg, specific to birds.[5][6] The upper bones of the foot (proximals), in turn, are fused with the tibia to form the tibiotarsus, as over time the centralia disappeared.[7][6][4][8] The fibula also reduced.[5]
The legs are attached to a strong assembly consisting of the pelvic girdle extensively fused with the uniform spinal bone (also specific to birds) called the synsacrum, built from some of the fused bones.[8][9]