Macroanatomy of the Bones of Thoracic Limb of an Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus)

Abstract

Int. J. Morphol., 34(3):909-917, 2016. SUMMARY:Bones of forelimb were studied from a prepared skeleton of an adult female Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) in Anatomy Museum of Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University to understand the morphological form and structure of Asian elephant forelimb. The angle was approximately 123º between caudal border of scapula and caudal border of humerus. The scapula, humerus and bones of the antebrachium (particularly the ulna) were massive bones. The bones of manus were the short and relatively small. The dorsal border of scapula extended from the level of proximal extremity of first rib to the middle of the 6 th rib. Ventral angle of scapula articulated with humerus by elongated shaped glenoid cavity (cavitas glenoidalis) of scapula and head of humerus (caput humeri). The major tubercle (tuberculum majus) of humerus was situated laterally to the head, which had smaller cranial part with large caudal part and extended cranially to the head. The crest of minor tubercle (tuberculum minus) was present as the rough line on the mediocaudal surface of humerus that ends in a slight depressed or elevated area, known as teres major tuberosity (tuberositas teres major). The lateral supracondyler crest (crista supra condylaris lateralis) at the caudal surface of the shaft limit the musculo-spiral groove in body of humerus. The radius and ulna are twin bones of forearm and the attachment between ulna and radius occurs in such a way, the radius articulates craniomedially with the ulna in the proximal part. But the shaft spirals laterally over the cranial surface of the ulna to articulate distally with the medial aspect of the ulna. There were 8 carpal bones, 5 metacarpal bones and 5 digits. The comparative size of the proximal and distal raw of carpal bones were ulnar carpal > radial > intermediate > accessory carpal and IV > III > II > I respectively. The gradual lengths of the metacarpal bones were III > IV > II > V > I. Digits I and V were vertical and digit II, III and IV were horizontal.

3D Reconstruction of the Blood Supply in an Elephant’s Forefoot Using Fused CT and MRI Sequences

“…There are five metacarpal bones, with the third being the largest, followed by the fourth, second, and fifth, with the first being the smallest [9]. This arrangement of sizes corresponds with the size of the digits themselves as well.…”

Anatomical Features of Some Bones of the Forelimbs of Lions (Panthera leo)

“…The glenoid cavity (cavitas glenoidalis) was elongated oval shaped (Fig. 2), which was variable in some other species such as it was elongated in elephant (Ahasan et al, 2016), oval to quadrangular in tiger (Tomar et al) and oval shape in Indian wild cat (Palanisamy et al).…”

Anátomo-radiografia dos ossos longos do membro torácico do Tamandua tetradactyla

“…Ainda na extremidade proximal da ulna, os processos coronoides foram descritos de modo similar em E. maximus (Ahasan et al 2016) e M. gouazoubira (Souza Jr et al 2017), sendo que no elefante asiático o medial também era maior em comparação com seu contralateral, o que pode ser explicado pela necessidade de uma maior superfície articular para o úmero, já que ele suporta a maior parte da tróclea.…”