The primary advantages of a plantigrade foot are stability and weight-bearing ability; plantigrade feet have the largest surface area. The primary disadvantage of a plantigrade foot is speed. With more bones and joints in the foot, the leg is both shorter and heavier at the far end, which makes it difficult to move rapidly. In humans and other great apes, another possible advantage of a plantigrade foot is that it may enhance fighting performance as it makes it easier to perform kicks.
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In 1961, paleontologist L. Ginsburg concluded that Sansanosmilus was possessed of a plantigrade walking stance, after studying its foot bones and comparing it with those of the true felid Pseudaelurus from the same site. This is different from later barbourofelids, which are believed to have had semi- plantigrade or semi-digitigrade stances.
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In the human and the elephant, the column orientation of the foot complex is replaced in humans by a plantigrade orientation, and in elephants by a semi-plantigrade alignment of the hind limb foot structure. This difference in orientation in the foot bones and joints of humans and elephants helps them to adapt to variations in the terrain.
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Among archosaurs, the pterosaurs were partially plantigrade, walking on the whole of the hind foot and the fingers of the hand-wing.
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Portion of a human skeleton, showing plantigrade habit In terrestrial animals, plantigrade locomotion means walking with the toes and metatarsals flat on the ground. It is one of three forms of locomotion adopted by terrestrial mammals. The other options are digitigrade, walking on the toes with the heel and wrist permanently raised, and ungulates, walking on the nail or nails of the toes (the hoof) with the heel/wrist and the digits permanently raised. The leg of a plantigrade mammal includes the bones of the upper leg (femur/humerus) and lower leg (tibia and fibula/radius and ulna).
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He compared Macropodosaurus with the feet of Erlikosaurus and Therizinosaurus noting that in a plantigrade position they match the morphology of the tracks. He considered these tracks to be more associated with therizinosaurids and proposed a plantigrade stance for them. Macropodosaurus has also been discovered in the Maastrichtian strata of Poland in 2007. This footprint is reminiscent of the tracks described by Zakharov and was assigned to Macropodosaurus sp.
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The leg of a digitigrade mammal also includes the metatarsals/metacarpals, the bones that in a human compose the arch of the foot and the palm of the hand. The leg of an unguligrade mammal also includes the phalanges, the finger and toe bones. Among extinct animals, most early mammals such as pantodonts were plantigrade. A plantigrade foot is the primitive condition for mammals; digitigrade and unguligrade locomotion evolved later.
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Like all barbourofelids, Prosansanosmilus was very muscular, short legged and probably walked plantigrade (flat-footed). There are only two species of Prosansanosmilus, which lived in Spain, France and Germany during the Late Miocene epoch.
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Unlike most other carnivorans, bears have plantigrade feet. Drawing by Richard Owen, 1866. Bears are generally bulky and robust animals with short tails. They are sexually dimorphic with regard to size, with males typically being larger.
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Sinopa rapax from Bridger Basin. Creodonts had generalized postcranial skeletons. Their limbs were mesaxonic (with the axis of the foot provided by the middle of their five digits). Their method of locomotion ranged from plantigrade to digitigrade.
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Since the research of therizinosaurs started posterior to these findings, Zakharov was not able to determine the exact type of dinosaur. Sennikov in 2006 re-examined these footprints and concluded that a therizinosaurid-grade dinosaur could have made those tracks. He compared Macropodosaurus with the articulated feet of Erlikosaurus and the referred one from Therizinosaurus revealing that when articulated in a plantigrade position they fit in the morphology of Macropodosaurus. Therefore, he considered these tracks to be more associated with therizinosaurids and was one of the first in propose a plantigrade stance in therizinosaurids.
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Furthermore, the transition between gliding and flapping flight is not well-understood. More recent studies on basal pterosaur hindlimb morphology seem to vindicate a connection to Scleromochlus. Like this archosaur, basal pterosaur lineages have plantigrade hindlimbs that show adaptations for saltation.
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M1 and m2 form the carnassials, while M3/m3 are absent. The manus and pes are plantigrade or subplantigrade. The fibula articulates with the calcaneum, and the astragalus articulates with the cuboid bone. The phalanges are compressed and fissured at the tip.
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The southern hairy-nosed wombat is adapted to digging; it has a stocky and robust build, flattened claws, and five digits. Animal Diversity It is also plantigrade. The body length ranges from with a body mass ranging from . Its short tail is hidden by its fur.
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Jordi Agusti and Mauricio Anton: Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids 65 million years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe , Columbia University Press, 2002, pp.81-83 It was very muscular, walked on plantigrade (flat-footed). So far, there is only one described species within this genus - Q. major.
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They have strong social interactions between related individuals, which can include mutual grooming, play, and soft vocalizations when not in physical contact which each other. They have a semi- plantigrade stance, and are excellent climbers and jumpers, often using their front incisors for grip and leverage.
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It is pentadactyl, with five claws on each foot. The claws on its forefeet are longer than those on its hind feet, and its middle claws are longest. The front claws of the camas pocket gopher are short and weak relative to its size. It employs plantigrade locomotion.
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A paw is the soft foot of a mammal, generally a quadruped, that has claws or nails (e.g., a cat or dog's paw). A hard foot is called a hoof. Depending on style of locomotion, animals can be classified as plantigrade (sole walking), digitigrade (toe walking), or unguligrade (nail walking).
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Manus and pes range from plantigrade to digitigrade. The fibula articulates with the calcaneum, while the astragalar-cuboid articulation is reduced or absent. Terminal phalanges are compressed and fissured at the tip. The limnocyonids had the following features according to Gunnell: M3/m3 were reduced or absent, other teeth were unreduced.
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Tom Woodruff, who had previously played the "dog-alien" in Alien 3, described the human-spawned Aliens in Resurrection as feeling more like a dog than the previous creature, despite having been born from human hosts. The human-spawned Alien warriors would revert to a plantigrade posture in Alien vs. Predator.
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Running gait. Photographs by Eadweard Muybridge, 1887. Most vertebrates—the amphibians, the reptiles and some mammals such as humans and bears—are plantigrade, walking on the whole of the underside of the foot. Many mammals, such as cats and dogs, are digitigrade, walking on their toes, the greater stride length allowing more speed.
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By mammalian standards, this is an unusually full jaw. The incisors are very small, the canines large, and the molars are tricuspid. Didelphimorphs have a plantigrade stance (feet flat on the ground) and the hind feet have an opposable digit with no claw. Like some New World monkeys, opossums have prehensile tails.
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Once the pediveliger is fully developed, its foot extends and makes contact with substrate. The initial contact with the substrate is loose. If the substrate is suitable, the larva will metamorphoses into the juvenile form, plantigrade, and attach byssus threads. The mussel will remain in that state until reaching 1-1.5mm in length.
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Rhesus macaques are diurnal animals, and both arboreal and terrestrial. They are quadrupedal and, when on the ground, they walk digitigrade and plantigrade. They are mostly herbivorous, feeding mainly on fruit, but also eating seeds, roots, buds, bark, and cereals. They are estimated to consume around 99 different plant species in 46 families.
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Plantigrade catarrhine monkeys lack the capacity for suspensory locomotion or to focus body weight over the knee joint; knuckle-walking apes lack strong big toes and thumbs, and have more robust finger bones; and both lack an extendable knee. Orangutans have a clambering motion too, but their knees lack weight-bearing ability.
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Earlier arguments for a sprawling stance include deep pelvises and features of the legs. They also suggested that the feet of multituberculates would have been plantigrade (the sole touching the ground) at rest, but digitigrade (the sole not touching the ground) when jumping and running quickly; they dismissed the idea that the forelimbs of multituberculates and other early mammals were more parasagittal than their hindlimbs. Kielan-Jaworowska and Hurum depicted Catopsbaatar with plantigrade, sprawling legs, with mobile spurs which pointed inward when preparing for attack. In 2008, Kielan-Jaworowska and Hurum suggested that the long spinous process on a Catopsbaatar vertebra and the long transverse processes in Nemegtbaatar may indicate that some multituberculates were saltatorial (had the ability to jump).
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Pampatheriidae ("Pampas beasts") is an extinct family of large plantigrade armored xenarthrans related to armadillos. However, pampatheriids have existed as a separate lineage since at least the middle Eocene Mustersan age, . Pampatheres evolved in South America during its long period of Cenozoic isolation. Although widespread, they were less diverse and abundant than the armadillos.
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Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it is now considered rare. More generally, the term can refer to anything with distinctly human characteristics or adaptations, such as possessing opposable anterior forelimb-appendages (i.e. thumbs), visible spectrum-binocular vision (i.e. having two eyes), or biomechanic plantigrade-bipedalism (i.e.
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The ankle was a simple, "mesotarsal", hinge. The, rather long and slender, metatarsus was always splayed to some degree. The foot was plantigrade, meaning that during the walking cycle the sole of the metatarsus was pressed onto the soil. There was a clear difference between early pterosaurs and advanced species regarding the form of the fifth digit.
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They also emit a strong odor of musk, derived from musk glands that are sometimes visible on each side of the body. The odor is especially noticeable during the breeding season. Like all shrews, the Asian house shrew is plantigrade and long-nosed. The teeth are a series of sharp points to poke holes in insect exoskeletons.
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This is even more supported by their unusual morphology. As indicated by their feet morphology and several footprints from Asia, Africa and Europe, they probably were plantigrade walkers, but further examination may be required. Therizinosaurids were oviparous animals that nested in colonies and laid egg clutches. In fact, therizinosaur eggs are particularly common on Late Cretaceous formations, mainly in Asia.
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Most affected cats present with muscular weakness and/or ocular signs of hypertension. Signs of muscle weakness can include a plantigrade stance of the hindlimbs, cervical ventroflexion, inability to jump, lateral recumbency, or collapse. Ocular signs of arterial hypertension include mydriasis, hyphema, or blindness due to retinal detachment and/or intraocular hemorrhages. A palpable mass in the cranial abdomen is another potential finding.
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Its legs are short and lack webbing so they are not used for swimming. The hind feet have a flap of skin along the inside that allows them to be held snugly against the body when swimming. There are also two syndactylous (2nd and 3rd toes are fused) toes on the hind feet, used for grooming. On land P. velox is plantigrade.
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The tarsus of Pyrotherium was characteristic: the calcaneus tubercle was compressed dorsoventrally, as was the trochlea of the astragalus; in addition, it presents an extreme reduction in the contact between the heel and the cuboid. These derived characteristics, which involve a type of graviportal and plantigrade locomotion, are not found in any other known mammal, with the significant exception of the African Arsinoitherium.
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The rattle quills broaden at the terminal end and the broad portion is hollow with thin walls. When these quills are vibrated, they produce a hiss-like rattle. The front feet of the crested porcupine have four developed and clawed digits with a regressed thumb, the rear feet have five. The paws have naked and padded soles and have a plantigrade gait.
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However, the sacral vertebrae were no fused, making it harder to hold up its large body. Additionally, Arsinoitherium has short legs with a low knee joint, reducing the mammal to a short stride, which tends to make it more difficult to walk. Finally, Arsinoitherium is recorded to be plantigrade. Palaeoamasia has highly unique hyperdilambdodont molars, indicative of a plant-only diet.
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Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 48. Pyrotherium was among the largest native mammals in South America. Its bones are extremely dense, even more than in other large meridiungulates such as the notoungulate toxodonts and astrapotheres, which implies an extreme specialization towards graviportality; X-ray microtomography analysis of the bone density of its humerus and femur indicate that its medullary area was particularly compact, almost comparable to the pachyostosis of aquatic or semiaquatic mammals, with thick trabeculae and very small intratrabecular cavities, although they resemble externally the bones of proboscideans or rhinos, which would help it better absorb the impact energy on the bones. It is also inferred that its posture would have been semi- plantigrade, since the fingers of the hands would support its weight, but instead the feet they would have been plantigrade, as inferred from the ankle bones.
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Webb, Steve. Corridors to Extinction and the Australian Megafauna. Burlington: Elsevier Science, 2013. Print. A more likely suggestion, based on the apparent anatomy allowed by the bone structure of P. goliah, is that unlike modern kangaroos, which are plantigrade hoppers at high speeds and use their tails in pentapedal locomotion at slower speeds, Procoptodon was an unguligrade biped, walking in a fashion similar to hominids.
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This behavior consists of them lying on their bellies with they hind limbs extended or alternating keeping either their fore or hind limbs straight. It is thought to help withdraw oil and moisture, thus keeping their fur dry and sleek. Traveling is mostly done in a bipedal position with occasional hops that generally reach distances about . When moving slowly they are usually in a plantigrade position.
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Archaeocyon was a comparatively small and unspecialized dog. Its dentition (teeth) suggests a slightly more hypocarnivorous (omnivorous) diet than the otherwise similar Hesperocyon. The skeleton is also generalized, lacking specializations for running and retaining a plantigrade foot posture. A few derived features of the dentition support a relationship to Borophaginae and Caninae (the subfamily that includes living canids), rather than to the basal canid subfamily Hesperocyoninae.
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In carnivorans the carnassial pair is made up by the fourth upper premolar and the first lower molar teeth. There is variation among the carnassial pair depending on the family. Some species are cursorial and the foot posture in terrestrial species is either digitigrade or plantigrade. In pinnipeds the feet have become flippers where the locomotion is unique in each of the pinniped families.
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In terrestrial carnivorans the feet have soft pads. The feet can either be digitigrade seen in cats, hyenas and dogs or plantigrade seen in bears, skunks, raccoons, weasels, civets and mongooses. In pinnipeds the limbs have been modified into flippers. Unlike other marine mammals, such as cetaceans and sirenians which have fully functional tails to help them swim, pinnipeds use their limbs underwater for locomotion.
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Their hind limbs are in a plantigrade stance and are able to rotate under the body for quadrupedal locomotion and support. When swimming, there are two different types of movement: locomotion and diving. These seals swim primarily with forelimb propulsion due to their physiology. They have flexible joints between vertebrae for better maneuverability in the water as well as "greater muscular leverage" for pectoral strokes.
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When these quills are vibrated, they produce a hiss-like rattle. The front feet of the crested porcupine have four developed and clawed digits with a regressed thumb, the rear feet have five. The paws have naked and padded soles and have a plantigrade gait. The ears are external and both the eyes and ears are very small with long vibrissae on its head.
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The fundamental form of the vertebrate foot has five digits, however some animals have fused digits, giving them less, and some early tetrapods had more; Acanthostega had eight toes. Feet have evolved many forms depending on the animal's needs. One key variation is where on the foot the animal's weight is placed. Some vertebrates: amphibians, reptiles, and some mammals such as humans, bears, and rodents, are plantigrade.
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They are assumed to have had a cartilaginous housing of the ear mechanism. Nimravid feet were short, indicating they walked in a plantigrade or semiplantigrade posture. Although some nimravids physically resembled the sabre-toothed cats of the genus Smilodon, they were not closely related, but evolved a similar form through parallel evolution. They possessed synapomorphies with the barbourofelids in the cranium, mandible, dentition, and postcranium.
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Adult males are 10% larger than females, with both sexes measuring between 52 and 77 cm in total body length and usually weighing , though some may weigh . The feet are plantigrade with bare soles,Rosatte, R. & Lawson, S. (2003). Skunks. In G. Feldhamer, B. Thompson, & J. Chapman (Eds., Wild Mammals of North America; biology, management and conservation (2nd ed.) Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 692-707.
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The strong forelimbs are used to catch prey, to excavate dens, to dig out burrowing animals, to turn over rocks and logs to locate prey, and to club large creatures. Despite being quadrupeds, bears can stand and sit as humans do. Unlike most other land carnivorans, bears are plantigrade. They distribute their weight toward the hind feet, which makes them look lumbering when they walk.
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Toxodon was about in body length, with an estimated weight up to and about high at the shoulder and resembled a heavy rhinoceros, with a short and vaguely hippopotamus-like head. Because of the position of its nasal openings, it is believed that Toxodon had a well-developed snout. Toxodon possessed a large, barrel shaped body. It had short stout legs with plantigrade feet with three functional relatively short toes.
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Hemicyon was about long, and tall, with somewhat tiger-like proportions and carnassal blades on its teeth for cutting meat. Hemicyon is widely accepted to have been hypercarnivorous and highly predaceous. Unlike modern bears, Hemicyon walked on its toes; it was not plantigrade, but digitigrade, with long metapodials. This suggests that Hemicyon must have been an active hunter and a good runner, and presumably hunted by pursuing prey on open ground.
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Each toe bears a large, robust nail which is somewhat flattened and shovel-like, and appears to be intermediate between a claw and a hoof. Whereas the aardvark is considered digitigrade, it appears at time to be plantigrade. This confusion happens because when it squats it stands on its soles. A contributing characteristic to the burrow digging capabilities of aardvarks is an endosteal tissue called compacted coarse cancellous bone (CCCB).
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The ears are small and rounded, and the eyes are relatively small. The fur is short and coarse. A hog-nosed skunk skeleton on exhibit at the Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma The American hog-nosed skunk has stocky legs and plantigrade feet (the entire sole of the foot touches the ground). Its hind feet are broad and large with soles that are naked for about one-half their length.
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Basal pterosaurs were insectivores or predators of small vertebrates. Later pterosaurs (pterodactyloids) evolved many sizes, shapes, and lifestyles. Pterodactyloids had narrower wings with free hind limbs, highly reduced tails, and long necks with large heads. On the ground, pterodactyloids walked well on all four limbs with an upright posture, standing plantigrade on the hind feet and folding the wing finger upward to walk on the three-fingered "hand".
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Most birds, except loons and grebes, are digitigrade, not plantigrade. Also, chicks in the nest can use the entire foot (toes and tarsometatarsus) with the heel on the ground. Loons tend to walk this way because their legs and pelvis are highly specialized for swimming. They have a narrow pelvis, which moves the attachment point of the femur to the rear, and their tibiotarsus is much longer than the femur.
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While not all share identical dentition, they all possess teeth adapted for eating flesh, including the presence of shearing carnassials. Members of Family Procyonidae (raccoons, coatis) are smallish animals, with generally slender bodies and long tails. Nineteen extant species in six genera are currently recognized. Except for the kinkajou, all procyonids have banded tails and distinct facial markings, and like bears, are plantigrade, walking on the soles of their feet.
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A European badger skeleton at the Royal Veterinary College Dentition Skull of a European badger European badgers are powerfully built animals with small heads, thick, short necks, stocky, wedge- shaped bodies and short tails. Their feet are plantigrade or semidigitigrade and short, with five toes on each foot. The limbs are short and massive, with naked lower surfaces on the feet. The claws are strong, elongated and have an obtuse end, which assists in digging.
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In the long-footed mammals, both the hoofed species (unguligrade) and the clawed forms which walk on the toes (digitigrade), the heel is well above the ground at the apex of the angular joint known as the hock. In plantigrade species it rests on the ground. In birds, the heel is the backward-pointing joint which is often mistaken as the "knee" (the actual knee of birds is hidden under the plumage).
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The royal owl inhabits the ravines the largest of the Iberian nocturnal raptors. The golden eagle can be observed in the high areas of the southern half. There are griffon vultures and peregrine falcons. Among fish, the common trout is the dominant species The Iberian wolf is not very rare, and brown bears have been sighted, thus considering this zone as an important nexus of communication between isolated populations of this plantigrade.
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Plantigrade foot occurs normally in humans in static postures of standing and sitting. It should also occur normally in gait (walking). Hypertonicity, spasticity, clonus, limited range of motion, abnormal flexion neural pattern, and a plantar flexor (calf) muscle contracture, as well as some forms of footwear such as high heeled shoes, may contribute to an individual only standing and/or walking on his or her toes. This would be evident by the observable heel rise.
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The earlier species, like other sloths, bore their weight on the sides of their feet (pedolateral), whereas the later species planted their feet flat (plantigrade) to better paddle and walk along the seafloor. The digits decreased in size in later species. The third digit was constantly flexed, perhaps acting like a crampon to anchor itself to the seafloor while digging. Like other ground sloths, the fifth digit was vestigial and non-functioning.
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The eyes are small, and the ears are little more than ridges on the skin, another possible adaptation to avoiding damage while fighting. The honey badger has short and sturdy legs, with five toes on each foot. The feet are armed with very strong claws, which are short on the hind legs and remarkably long on the forelimbs. It is a partially plantigrade animal whose soles are thickly padded and naked up to the wrists.
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This term can be attributed to front limbs as well as tails for animals such as monkeys and some rodents. All animals that have prehensile front limbs are plantigrade, even if their ankle joint looks extended (squirrels are a good example). Among terrestrial invertebrates there are a number of leg forms. The arthropod legs are jointed and supported by hard external armor, with the muscles attached to the internal surface of this exoskeleton.
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Homotherium had the general appearance of a cat, but had a number of atypical features for a felid. Homotherium had unusual limb proportions, with longer, more robust forelimbs that gave it a hyena-like appearance. The hind quarters were rather squat with feet that may have been partially plantigrade, causing the back to slope towards the short tail. Features of the hind limbs indicate that this cat was moderately capable of leaping.
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The raccoon, whose method of locomotion is usually considered to be plantigrade, can stand on its hind legs to examine objects with its front paws. As raccoons have short legs compared to their compact torso, they are usually not able either to run quickly or jump great distances. Their top speed over short distances is . Raccoons can swim with an average speed of about and can stay in the water for several hours.
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The elbow gives the forearms great flexibility. The majority of species are plantigrade, walking on both the palms and soles of their feet, and have claw-like nails. The nails of burrowing species tend to be long and strong, while arboreal rodents have shorter, sharper nails. Rodent species use a wide variety of methods of locomotion including quadrupedal walking, running, burrowing, climbing, bipedal hopping (kangaroo rats and hopping mice), swimming and even gliding.
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Leg skeleton of the modern elephant The hind limb and foot of the elephant are oriented semi-plantigrade, and closely resemble the structure and function of the human foot. The tarsals and metapodials are arranged so as to form an arch, similarly to the human foot. The six toes of each foot of the elephant are enclosed in a flexible sheath of skin. Similar to the dog's paw, the elephant's phalanges are oriented in a downward direction.
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La Patasola's most notable feature, from which her name derives, is her one leg. She is believed to possess only one leg, which terminates in a cleaved bovine-like hoof and moves in a plantigrade fashion. Despite only possessing one leg, La Patasola can move swiftly through the jungle. In her natural state, La Patasola has a terrifying appearance; she is described as possessing one breast, bulging eyes, catlike fangs, a hooked nose, and big lips.
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Predator films, though the hands were made bulkier in order to make the Aliens seem more formidable against the Predators. Aliens have been alternatively portrayed as both plantigrade and digitigrade organisms, usually relative to their host. Human-spawned Aliens were usually portrayed as having humanoid hind limbs, while in Alien 3, the featured Alien sported double-jointed legs due to its quadrupedal host. This characteristic would be continued in Alien: Resurrection for the human-spawned Aliens.
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Compared to a wheel, a leg mechanism is potentially better fitted to uneven terrain, as it can step over obstacles.. An early design for a leg mechanism called the Plantigrade Machine by Pafnuty Chebyshev was shown at the Exposition Universelle (1878). The original engravings for this leg mechanism are available. The design of the leg mechanism for the Ohio State Adaptive Suspension Vehicle (ASV) is presented in the 1988 book Machines that Walk. In 1996, W-B.
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Proboscideans experienced several evolutionary trends, such as an increase in size, which led to many giant species that stood up to tall. As with other megaherbivores, including the extinct sauropod dinosaurs, the large size of elephants likely developed to allow them to survive on vegetation with low nutritional value. Their limbs grew longer and the feet shorter and broader. The feet were originally plantigrade and developed into a digitigrade stance with cushion pads and the sesamoid bone providing support.
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Eight species are recognized, divided into five genera. They range from the large polar bear (males, or ) to the small sun bear (males, or ) and from the endangered giant panda to the very common black bear. Common characteristics of modern bears include a large body with stocky legs, a long snout, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and a short tail. Most bears are omnivorous, with largely varied diets that include both plants and animals.
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Below the tips of the canines, its lower jaw spread out in the form of a lobe. Dinictis walked plantigrade (flat- footed), unlike modern felids. It looked like a small leopard and evidently its mode of life was similar to that of a leopard. It was probably not so particular about its food as its descendants, since the reduction of its teeth was still in the early stages and Dinictis had not forgotten how to chew.
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Early mesonychids probably walked on the flats of their feet (plantigrade), while later ones walked on their toes (digitigrade). These later mesonychids had hooves, one on each toe, with four toes on each foot. The foot was compressed for efficient running with the axis between the third and fourth toes (paraxonic); it would have looked something like a hoofed paw. Mesonychids varied in size; some species were as small as a fox, others as large as a horse.
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Scleromochlus taylori was about long, with long hind legs; it may have been capable of four-legged and two-legged locomotion. Studies about its gait suggest that it engaged in kangaroo- or springhare-like plantigrade hopping; however, a 2020 reassessment of Scleromochlus by Bennett suggested that it was a "sprawling quadrupedal hopper analogous to frogs." If Scleromochlus is indeed related to pterosaurs, this may offer insight as to how the latter evolved, since early pterosaurs also show adaptations for saltatorial locomotion.
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At least one footprint, DMNH 2010-07-01, was directly compared to the relatively complete right pes of Erlikosaurus revealing a consistent morphology. However, most of the footprint was made (apparently) by the fingers and a foot pad, indicating a more upright position of the metatarsals. Nevertheless, Botelho and colleagues have also considered a plantigrade stance for therizinosaurids in 2016. Accordingly, members of the Therizinosauridae (such as Neimongosaurus or Nothronychus) re-evolved a fully functional first digit that articulates to the ankle.
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Jacobs, Louis L. Jacobs; Scott, Kathleen Marie: Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America: Terrestrial carnivores, Cambridge University Press, 1998 Early amphicyonids, such as Daphoenodon, possessed a digitigrade posture and locomotion (walking on their toes), while many of the later and larger species were plantigrade or semiplantigrade.Wang, Xiaoming and Tedford, Richard H. Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. p10-11, 29 The amphicyonids were obligate carnivores, unlike the Canidae, which are hypercarnivores or mesocarnivores.
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Lesser grisons are carnivorous, feeding on small to medium rodents, as well as rabbits, birds, frogs, lizards, and snakes. They are among the major predators on cavies, including wild guinea pigs, and also of nesting grebes. They are semi-plantigrade, walking partly on the soles of their feet, and, despite the webbing, their feet are adapted more for running and climbing than for swimming. They possess anal scent glands that spray a noxious chemical similar to, but probably weaker than, that of skunks.
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Unlike modern macropodids, which hop (either bipedally or quadrupedally), sthenurines seem to have abandoned saltation as a means of locomotion. Their comparatively inflexible spines, robust hindlimb and pelvic elements, and the lack of capacity for rapid hopping suggest that these animals walked bipedally, somewhat like hominids, even converging with those primates in details of their pelvic anatomy. Furthermore, their hooved single digits and metatarsal anatomy suggest that unlike their plantigrade relatives, sthenurines were unguligrade, walking on the tips of their "toes".
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Common characteristics of modern bears include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails. While the polar bear is mostly carnivorous, and the giant panda feeds almost entirely on bamboo, the remaining six species are omnivorous with varied diets. With the exception of courting individuals and mothers with their young, bears are typically solitary animals. They may be diurnal or nocturnal and have an excellent sense of smell.
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It uses its tail to assist balance and has semi-retractable claws that it uses to climb trees in its search for prey. It has semiplantigrade feet, switching between a plantigrade- like gait (when arboreal) and a digitigrade-like one (when terrestrial). The soles of its paws are nearly bare and covered with strong pads. The fossa has very flexible ankles that allow it to readily grasp tree trunks so as to climb up or down trees head first or to leap to another tree.
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During July 1855, Richard Owen stated the theory that the footprints were from a badger, arguing the animal was 'the only plantigrade quadruped we have in this island' and it 'leaves a footprint larger than would be supposed from its size'. The number of footprints, he suggested, was indicative of the activity of several animals because 'it is improbable that one badger only should have been awake and hungry' and added that the animal was 'a stealthy prowler and most active and enduring in search of food'.
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Like raccoons and unlike ring-tailed cats and cacomistles, the rings go completely around the tail. Coatis often hold the tail erect; it is used as such to keep troops of coatis together in tall vegetation. The tip of the tail can be moved slightly on its own, as is the case with cats, but it is not prehensile as is that of the kinkajou, another procyonid. Coatis have bear- and raccoon-like paws, and walk plantigrade (on the soles of the feet, as do humans), like raccoons and bears.
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Hyaenodontids are characterized by long skulls, slender jaws, slim bodies, and a plantigrade stance. They generally ranged in size from 30 to 140 cm at the shoulder. While Hyaenodon gigas, the largest Hyaenodon species, was as much as 1.4 m high at the shoulder, 10 feet long and weighed about 500 kg, most were in the 5–15 kg range, equivalent to a mid-sized dog. The anatomy of their skulls show that they had a particularly acute sense of smell, while their teeth were adapted for shearing, rather than crushing.
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The western gray squirrel was first described by George Ord in 1818 based on notes taken by Lewis and Clark at The Dalles in Wasco County, Oregon. Sciurus griseus is the largest tree squirrel in the Sierra Nevada and Central California range. It has plantigrade, pentadactyl feet with two phalanges. Compared with the eastern gray squirrel S. carolinensis or the fox squirrel S. niger (which have been introduced into its native range), these squirrels are shy, and will generally run up a tree and give a hoarse chirping call when disturbed.
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For feet with the typical components of deformity (cavus, forefoot adductus, hindfoot varus, and ankle equinus), the typical procedure is a Posteromedial Release (PMR) surgery. This is done through an incision across the medial side of the foot and ankle, that extends posteriorly, and sometimes around to the lateral side of the foot. In this procedure, it is typically necessary to release (cut) or lengthen the plantar fascia, several tendons, and joint capsules/ligaments. Typically, the important structures are exposed and then sequentially released until the foot can be brought to an appropriate plantigrade position.
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Limnoperna fortunei is dioecious, with approximately equal numbers of males and females and very small proportions of hermaphrodites. Sexual maturation occurs early, at about 5–6 mm. Ova and sperm are liberated into the water, most probably simultaneously within the same area, where fertilization occurs producing a series of planktonic developing forms including a trochophore and a veliger around 150 micrometers in size. The final larval stage before settling on a substrate, which takes between 20 days (at 20 °C) and 12 days (at 28 °C) is the plantigrade larva (~250 micrometers).
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Oxyaena species were plantigrade, treading on the whole surface of their soles. For this reason, these animals could not have specialized in chasing down fast-running prey. Early studies disagreed on whether they were walking, climbing, or swimming animals; more recent work suggests that like modern raccoons, they may have been able to climb trees, swim, and make a living on the ground, but were not highly specialized in any direction. An analysis of the teeth shows they were generalized feeders, like most modern raccoons and bears, rather than hypercarnivores like modern cats.
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Pyrothere sistematics and a caribbean route for land-mammal dispersal during the Paleocene. Revista Geológica de América Central. in some studies, the complete study of the tarsus of Pyrotherium fails to support a relationship with xenungulatans, instead the derived characteristics of Pyrotherium were not observed other than in other mammals examined except for the embrithopod Arsinoitherium from the Paleogene of Africa. If this is due to a common ancestor, or to the unusual mode of locomotion used by these animals (graviportal and plantigrade) remains a mystery to be seen.
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Raccoons are unusual, for their thumbs (though not opposable) enable them to open many closed containers (such as garbage cans and doors). They are omnivores with a reputation for being clever and mischievous; their intelligence and dexterity equip them to survive in a wide range of environments and are one of the few medium-to-large-sized animals that have enlarged their range since human encroachment began (another is the coyote). Raccoon hindfeet are plantigrade similar to those of humans and bears. Raccoons are sometimes considered vermin or a nuisance.
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Naviculectomy may be indicated in the above resistant case of congenital vertical talus on the condition that a plantigrade foot is considered unlikely by the conservative serial casting methods. And on the condition that extensive soft tissue release is not expected to yield an satisfactory clinical and functional result. Generally, naviculectomy is a more tissue-friendly procedure in contrast to the more aggressive classic and extensive peri-talar soft tissue releases. The clinical and radiologic results of naviculectomy are satisfactory on the short term, and long term follow-up.
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Hyainailourids are characterized by long skulls, slender jaws, slim bodies, and a plantigrade stance. They generally ranged in size from 30 to 140 cm at the shoulder. While some measured as much as 1.4 m high at the shoulder with head-body length up to 3.2 m and weighed up to 1,500 kg, most were in the 5–15 kg range, equivalent to a mid-sized dog. The anatomy of their skulls show that they had a particularly acute sense of smell, while their teeth were adapted for shearing, rather than crushing.
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Restoration Astrapotherium had an elongated body, with a total length around , a weight of nearly , and relatively short limbs. It had small plantigrade feet, and the hind limbs were significantly weaker than the fore limbs. Its four canine teeth were elongated to form short tusks, and it had broad, protruding lower incisors, which likely ground against a horny pad in the upper jaw, as in many modern ruminants. The nostrils were placed high on the head, which might indicate the presence of a trunk, but could equally be due to other reasons, such as an inflatable nasal cavity.
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Digitigrade and unguligrade animals have relatively long carpals and tarsals, and the bones which would correspond to the human ankle are thus set much higher in the limb than in a human. In a digitigrade animal, this effectively lengthens the foot, so much so that what are often thought of as a digitigrade animal's "hands" and "feet" correspond only to what would be the bones of the human finger or toe. Humans usually walk with the soles of their feet on the ground, in plantigrade locomotion. In contrast, digitigrade animals walk on their distal and intermediate phalanges.
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It is usually raised extensively, and forages well on the rice straw and water plants of its native area. It is particularly well adapted to the marshy and muddy terrain on which it usually lives: it has plantigrade feet, with weight borne on all four toes of each foot. Two principal types are recognised within the breed: the I-mo or Fatty I is the typical small short-legged pig, with small upward- pointing ears and a short snout; the I-pha or Large I is taller, has longer legs and a longer snout, with bigger ears held horizontally.
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Restoration of S. occidentalis Osteological information (predominantly cave floor surface finds) has yielded that Simosthenurus is part of the same family as that of modern kangaroos. However, modern kangaroos are plantigrade hoppers, using jumping as their means of locomotion, while Simosthenurus was a bipedal unguligrade, walking in a manner similar to that of hominids. Although members of Simosthenurus were no taller than most modern species of kangaroo, their robust bones, broad pelvis, long arms and short necks were unique adaptations to their browsing mode of feeding. They had single-toed hind feet had small hoof-like nails more typical of animals adapted to moving over relatively flat terrain.
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Although the gymnures are more closely related to the hedgehogs, full grown gymnures superficially resemble large rats or shrews, or the North American Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginianis), which shares similar habits and ecological niches (an example of parallel evolution). The gymnure's body plan is believed to resemble that of the earliest mammals, with a large toothy head about 1/3 the length of the total body, a naked furless tail for balance and thermoregulatory purposes, and a plantigrade stance. In direct contrast to the closely related hedgehogs, gymnures are not spiny. They also have an outstanding sense of smell, and tactile response in the snout region.
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Based on its foot structure, species of Barbourofelis might have had a semi- plantigrade walking stance. Barbourofelis fricki also had a very small brain compared to its body size; its brain was similar in size to a bobcat's, indicating it was not as intelligent as later feliformes or true felids. Barbourofelis also had large carnassial teeth, meant for efficiently processing a carcass, indicating it lived in a highly competitive ecosystem or that it was social and would feed in a competitive, frenzied manner in order to eat as much as other members of its family group. Perhaps a combination of both scenarios was possible.
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Whereas its pre-evolutions Charmander and Charmeleon are ground-bound lizard like creatures, Charizard's design is inspired by dragons, more specifically European dragons. Even though Charizard gains the Flying secondary type instead of the Dragon type upon evolving, it belongs to the Dragon Egg Group, learns Dragon moves like Dragon Claw, and has its Flying type replaced by Dragon in its "Mega Charizard X" form. Charizard has two teal wings, with a mostly orange body and back. Its plantigrade feet have the bottom mostly covered by a single pad that is cream-colored like its belly, while its eyes are light blue in color.
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Most members of this group have non-retractile claws (the fisher, marten, red panda, and ringtail have retractile or semi-retractile claws) and tend to be plantigrade (with the exception of the Canidae). Other traits that separate Caniformia from Feliformia is that caniforms have longer jaws and have more teeth, with less specialized carnassial teeth. They also tend more towards omnivory and opportunistic feeding, while the feliforms, other than the viverrids, are more specialized for eating meat. Caniforms have single- chambered or partially divided auditory bullae, composed of a single bone, while in feliforms, the auditory bullae are double-chambered, composed of two bones joined by a septum.
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Unlike the front feet, the hind feet have short claws on all five toes and walk plantigrade. As a "hook-and-pull" digger, the giant anteater's enlarged supraspinous fossa gives the teres major more leverage—increasing the front limbs' pulling power—and the triceps muscle helps power the flexion of the thickened third digit of the front feet. The giant anteater has a low body temperature for a mammal, about , a few degrees lower than a typical mammalian temperature of . Xenarthrans in general tend to have lower metabolic rates than most other mammals, a trend thought to correlate with their dietary specializations and low mobility.
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Skull, as illustrated by N.N. Kondakov Skeleton Anatomically, the wolverine is a stocky and muscular animal. With short legs, broad and rounded head, small eyes and short rounded ears, it more closely resembles a bear than it does other mustelids. Though its legs are short, its large, five-toed paws with crampon-like claws and plantigrade posture enable them to climb up and over steep cliffs, trees and snow-covered peaks with relative ease. The adult wolverine is about the size of a medium dog, with a length usually ranging from , a tail of , and a weight of , though exceptionally large males can weigh up to .
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However, during pursuit of speedy game animals, the bear's sheer physical mass and plantigrade gait would be a handicap; modern brown bears can run at the same speed but quickly tire and cannot keep up a chase for long. Arctodus skeletons do not articulate in a way that would have allowed for quick turns – an ability required of any predator that survives by chasing down agile prey. A 2010 study found the "long-legged" appearance of the bear is largely an illusion created by the animal's relatively short back. Arctodus moved in a pacing motion like modern bears, making it built more for endurance than for great speed.
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In particular, the features of the humerus suggest a great development of the pectoral and deltoid muscles, not only required to capture its prey, also to absorb the energy of the impact of the collision with such prey. Vertebrae The features of the hindlimb, with a robust femur equipped with a greater trochanter in the lower part, the short tibia and plantigrade feet shows that this animal was not a runner, and probably stalked its prey animals. The hindlimbs also allowed a certain mobility of the hip, and possibly the ability to stand up only with its hindlimbs, like Prothylacynus and Borhyaena. Contrary to felids, barbourofelids and nimravids, the claws of Thylacosmilus were not retractable.
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The back legs may become weak and the gait may become stilted or wobbly owing to diabetic neuropathy, which is caused by damage to the myelin sheath of the peripheral nerves due to glucose toxicity and cell starvation, which are in turn caused by chronic hyperglycemia.Logical Approach to Weakness and Seizures-David B. Church-WSAVA 2009 Most common in cats, the back legs become weaker until the cat displays a plantigrade stance, standing on its hocks instead of on its toes as normal. The cat may also have trouble walking and jumping and may need to sit down after a few steps. Neuropathy sometimes heals on its own within 6–10 weeks once blood sugar is regulated.
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Upper/front limbs of (top) salamander, sea turtle, crocodile, bird, (bottom) bat, whale, mole, and human The skeletons of all mammals are based on a common pentadactyl ("five- fingered") template but optimised for different functions. While many mammals can perform other tasks using their forelimbs, their primary use in most terrestrial mammals is one of three main modes of locomotion: unguligrade (hoof walkers), digitigrade (toe walkers), and plantigrade (sole walkers). Generally, the forelimbs are optimised for speed and stamina, but in some mammals some of the locomotion optimisation have been sacrificed for other functions, such as digging and grasping. In primates, the upper limbs provide a wide range of movement which increases manual dexterity.
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It is known from the type specimen, IGM 3494 (Instituto Geológico de México, of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), that comprises articulated pieces of the skeleton including the posterior part of skull, four cervical vertebrae, the scapulocoracoids, left humerus, partial right wing and right leg distal to mid tibiotarsus. This specimen is larger than D. macronyx and the well preserved foot of it shows that pterosaurs do not have a digitigrade posture in their hindlimbs, but that it have a plantigrade gait, as has been inferred from footprints. The name of the species is a homage to Dr. Robert L. Weintraub.J. M. Clark, J. A. Hopson, R. Hernández R., D. E. Fastovsky & M. Montellano (1998).
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In the 1980s, paleontologist Kevin Padian suggested that smaller pterosaurs with longer hindlimbs, such as Dimorphodon, might have walked or even ran bipedally, in addition to flying, like road runners. However, a large number of pterosaur trackways were later found with a distinctive four-toed hind foot and three-toed front foot; these are the unmistakable prints of pterosaurs walking on all fours. Fossil footprints show that pterosaurs stood with the entire foot in contact with the ground (plantigrade), in a manner similar to many mammals like humans and bears. Footprints from azhdarchids and several unidentified species show that pterosaurs walked with an erect posture with their four limbs held almost vertically beneath the body, an energy-efficient stance used by most modern birds and mammals, rather than the sprawled limbs of modern reptiles.
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Skeleton of the human and gorilla (gorilla shown in non-natural posture) The unique plantigrade alignment of the human foot results in a distal-limb structure that can adapt to a variety of conditions. The less mobile and more robust tarsal bones are shaped and aligned to accept and transmit large loads during the early phases of stance (initial contact and loading response phases of walking, and inadvertent heel strikes during running). The tarsals of the midfoot, which are smaller and shorter than the hindfoot tarsals, appear well oriented to transmit loads between the hindfoot and forefoot; this is necessary for load transfer and locking of the foot complex into a rigid lever for late stance phase. Conversely, the midfoot bones and joints also allow for the transmission of loads and inter-joint movement that unlocks the foot to create a loosely packed structure which renders the foot highly compliant over a variety of surfaces.
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They do not perform much work, except to feed, play, and mate, and are characterized by apathy; and when Weena falls into a river, none of the other Eloi helps her (she is rescued instead by the Time Traveler). Periodically, the Morlocks capture individual Eloi for food; and because this typically happens on moonless nights, the Eloi are terrified of darkness. A portion of the book written for the New Review version, later published as a separate short story, reveals that a visit by the Time Traveller to the even more distant future results in his encountering rabbit- like hopping herbivores, apparently the descendants of the Eloi. They are described as being plantigrade, with longer hind legs and tailless, being covered with straight greyish hair that "thickened about the head into a Skye terrier's mane", having human-like hands (described as fore feet) and having a roundish head with a projecting forehead and forward-looking eyes that were obscured by lank hair.
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