Animal femur is the largest and massive long bone in animal skeleton. You should learn the osteological features of femur of ox and find out the differences from other different animals.
In this article I am going to discuss on cow femur bone anatomy. I will share labeled pictures of animal femur identification.
If you want to learn animal femur bone anatomy then this may be a perfect guide for you. You will also know little anatomical features of dog femur, deer femur and femur of horse.
Again if you want to learn other bone anatomy form animal skeleton, you may find article here in this blog. Okay, let’s get into today’s discussion – animal femur anatomy.
Animal femur
The body of the animal femur is cylindrical and more massive. Femur is directed obliquely downward and forward. It inclines horizontally or with frontal plane of animal body.
The femur bone presents the two main important parts –
#1. The body of femur bone of animals
#2. Two extremities of femur bone
Femur bone articulates with hip bone above and form hip joint in animal. Again this bone articulates with tibia, fibula and patella below and form the stifle joint.
Femur of ox
In this article I am going to present the anatomy of femur of ox. First you may learn the basic osteological features of femur bone from ox skeleton. Then you may find out the difference in osteological features from different animals.
Animal femur identification
You should identify the following important structures from the animal femur bone anatomy. I am going to enlist the osteological features from the cow femur –
Identification of osteological features from the body of cow femur –
#1. Four surface of cow femur bone – cranial surface, medial surface, lateral surface and caudal surface
#2. Lesser trochanter at the proximal part of medial border of body of cow femur
#3. Supracondyloid fossa of animal femur bone
#4. The lateral supracondyloid tuberosity of femur of ox
Osteological features from the proximal extremity of femur of ox –
#1. Head of femur bone in cow
#2. The fovea capitis femoris in the head of cow femur
#3. Neck of the femur bone in ox
#4. Greater trochanter and it’s structures – trochanteric crest and trochanteric fossa in animal
Osteological features identification from the distal extremity of femur bone of cow –
#1. Trochlea of femur of ox
#2. Lateral and medial condyle of femur of cow
#3. Lateral and medial epicondyle of femur bone of ox
#4. Intercondyloid fossa of ox femur bone
Hope this animal femur identification will help you to learn femur bone anatomy. Find out all the features from the labeled anatomy of cow femur bone.
Femur bone anatomy
Do you want to learn femur bone anatomy from different animals? Fine, I am going to describe the anatomy of femur bone body and extremities.
Anatomy of body of femur bone of ox
The body is cylindrical but flattened caudally and larger proximally and distally of the femur bone. You will find four different surface of a femur bone –
#1. Cranial smooth surface of femur
#2. Caudal wide and smooth surface of femur bone
#3. Medial rough surface of femur bone
#4. Lateral smooth surface of cow femur bone
Femur of ox is convex side to side and appears round in cross section. For this reason this bone is also known as round bone in ox skeleton.
There are two borders in cow femur bone – medial border and lateral border. The medial border of cow femur contains very large prominence at the proximal end of the femur body. This prominence of bone is also known as lesser trochanter of ox femur.
At the distal part of medial border of animal femur you will find moderately deep depression. This depression is known as supracondyloid fossa in ox femur. Lateral border of ox femur you will find a large round projection called lateral supracondyloid tuberosity.
Anatomy of extremities of animal femur
In the proximal extremity of animal femur there is a large round expand area known as head. There is an articular surface in the form of very small pit in the head of ox femur head. This articular surface is known as fovea capitis femoris of ox femur.
The neck is the constricted part just below the expanded head of cow femur. In the proximal extremity you will also find a large prominence known as greater trochanter of cow femur bone. The caudal border of greater trochanter of ox femur contains an elongated elevation. This elongated elevation is called trochanteric crest of ox femur bone.
You will also find a moderately deep depression at caudal part of distal extremity of ox femur. The name of this deep depression is trochanteric fossa of ox femur.
Anatomical features of distal extremity of cow femur bone
The distal extremity of cow femur contains trochlea and condyle. The trochlea is the pully like grooved articular surface in cow femur bone. Again the condyle is the knuckle shaped paired articular surface in cow femur bone anatomy.
You will find two condyles in distal extremity of ox femur bone – lateral and medial. There are also lateral and medial epicondyles in distal extremity of cow femur. You need to identify the intercondyloid fossa in between lateral and medial condyle of femur bone anatomy.
Dog femur bone anatomy
I would like to enlist the exceptional characteristics from the dog femur bone anatomy –
You will not find the supracondyloid fossa in dog femur bone. The trochanteric ridges are equal shape and size in dog. The greater trochanter of dog femur bone is at the lower level of the head.
Femur of horse anatomy
The femur of horse is more massive than the other animals. You will find an extra larger prominence at the lateral border of the body of femur of horse – the third trochanter. The fovea capitis is deep and notched in the head of horse femur bone.
The supracondyloid fossa is deeper in horse femur bone than other animals. Trochanteric ridge is directed along the length of the femur bone in horse.
Femur of pig
The head of the femur of pig is curved. Greater trochanter does not extend above the head of the pig femur. The trochanteric ridges are also equal in size in pig femur.
You may also learn the osteological features of humerus of ox and cow hip bone anatomy from this blog.
Conclusion
Hope you lean the basic anatomy of animal femur bone. I discussed on the anatomy of femur of ox but you may learn anatomy of femur of horse, dog femur and other animals. Hope the labeled pictures of cow femur help you to learn the basic animal femur identification.
Do you want to get more pictures of femur bone anatomy from different animals? Get more animal femur identification picture here in the social media. Thanks for staying with anatomylearner and learn ox femur anatomy with me.
