Leg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other senses of this word, see leg (disambiguation).
In general, a leg is the part of an animal's body that support the rest of the body above the ground and is used for locomotion. In higher land animals, such as the tetrapod vertebrates, anatomists usually use the term 'leg' to refer to the portion of the limb distal to the hip joint (hind limb) or shoulder joint (fore limb).
In bipedal vertebrate animals, the lower limb is usually referred to as the 'leg' and the upper limb as the 'arm'.
Legs mostly come in even-numbered quantities that are characteristic of some taxonomic groups:
- in vertebrates, 2 (the bipeds) or 4 (the quadrupeds);
- in many familiar arthropods, 6, 8, or 12;
- in some arthropods, more than a dozen and sometimes over 100 -- but despite what their names might suggest,
- centipedes seldom have exactly a hundred, and
- millipedes apparently never even approach a thousand.
[edit] The human leg
The bones of the human leg are:
- the femur (or thigh bone), which attaches to the pelvis
- the patella (knee cap)
- the tibia (shin bone)
- the fibula (calf bone)
The front edge of the tibia is not covered by a thick layer of muscle or fat: this is why being kicked in the shins is so painful.
[edit] How do you move your leg?
When you move your leg, your brain is sending signals to your leg and it moves. (More info needed)
[edit] See also
et:Jalg eo:gambo fi:Jalka fr:Jambe ja:脚 pt:Perna simple:Leg sv:Ben (extremitet) zh:腿
