A hindlimb or back limb is one of the paired

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent coupling in its construction. This coupling works as a large pivot joint, allowing it to bend and turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buse ...

appendage An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part or natural prolongation that protrudes from an organism's body such as an arm or a leg. Protrusions from single-celled bacteria and archaea are known as cell-surface appendages or surface app ...

s (

limb Limb may refer to: Science and technology *Limb (anatomy), an appendage of a human or animal *Limb, a large or main branch of a tree *Limb, in astronomy, the curved edge of the apparent disk of a celestial body, e.g. lunar limb *Limb, in botany, t ...

s) attached on the

caudal Caudal may refer to: Anatomy * Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism * Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into th ...

( posterior) end of a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

tetrapod A tetrapod (; from Ancient Greek :wiktionary:τετρα-#Ancient Greek, τετρα- ''(tetra-)'' 'four' and :wiktionary:πούς#Ancient Greek, πούς ''(poús)'' 'foot') is any four-Limb (anatomy), limbed vertebrate animal of the clade Tetr ...

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

torso The torso or trunk is an anatomical terminology, anatomical term for the central part, or the core (anatomy), core, of the body (biology), body of many animals (including human beings), from which the head, neck, limb (anatomy), limbs, tail an ...

.http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/hind%20limb, Merriam Webster Dictionary-Hindlimb With reference to

quadruped Quadrupedalism is a form of locomotion in which animals have four legs that are used to bear weight and move around. An animal or machine that usually maintains a four-legged posture and moves using all four legs is said to be a quadruped (fr ...

s, the term hindleg or back leg is often used instead. In

bipedal Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an animal moves by means of its two rear (or lower) limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' ...

animals with an

upright Body relative directions (also known as egocentric coordinates) are geometrical orientations relative to a body such as a human person's body or a road sign. The most common ones are: left and right; forward and backward; up and down. They fo ...

posture (e.g.

humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

and some

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

s), the term

lower limb Lower may refer to: *Lower (album), ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also

*Nizhny {{Disambiguation ...

is often used.

Location

It is located on the limb of an animal. Hindlimbs are present in a large number of quadrupeds. Though it is a posterior limb, it can cause lameness in some animals. The way of walking through hindlimbs are called

bipedalism Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an animal moves by means of its two rear (or lower) Limb (anatomy), limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from ...

Benefits of hindlimbs

Hindlimbs are helpful in many ways, some examples are:

Frogs

Frogs can easily adapt at the surroundings using hindlimbs. The main reason is it can

jump JuMP is an algebraic modeling language and a collection of supporting packages for mathematical optimization embedded in the Julia programming language. JuMP is used by companies, government agencies, academic institutions, software projects ...

high to easily escape to its predator and also to catch prey. It can perform some tricks using the hindlimbs such as the somersault and hindersault. Frogs have 4 digits in fore limb while hindlimb have five digits. All digits are without nails.

Birds

All birds walk using hindlimbs. They have the ability to dig in two opposite directions using the hindlimbs. They can easily find food that makes them adapt on their surroundings. A bird with a forelimb that is very primitive is the

Archaeopteryx ''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird'') is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaîos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...

. It adapted by using it but it was not capable of long-distance flights, leading to its extinction. The fastest biped is the ostrich. It runs at 70 km/h.

Kangaroo rats

Bipedality in kangaroo rats are seen to be an agent of adaptation. Kangaroo rats are long jumpers that can jump up to 18 feet, (that is twice the highest possible long jump and also high jump). Using hindlimbs they can survive a challenging ecosystem. They can easily find food and survive hindrances in the environment. Some species use hindlimbs for competition.

First bipeds

The first vertebrate bipeds were the

Bolosaurids Bolosauridae is an extinct family of parareptiles known from the latest Carboniferous (Gzhelian) or earliest Permian (Asselian) to the early Guadalupian epoch (latest Roadian stage) of North America, China, Germany, Russia and France. The bolosau ...

, a group of prehistoric reptiles with no living relatives. The first one,

Eudibamus ''Eudibamus'' is an extinct genus of biped bolosaurid reptile known from the Free State of Thuringia of central Germany. It had a very small size reaching only 25-26 cm in length. Discovery ''Eudibamus'' is known only from the holotype MN ...

, was a small, fast runner during the

Permian Period The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

References

{{Reflist Animal anatomy Lower limb anatomy