Three-dimensional anatomy of the knee joint of ostriches (Struthio camelus)
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Evolutionary Studies, Zoology, Anatomy and Physiology, Radiology and Medical Imaging
- Keywords
- morphology, Paleognathae, ratite, bird, femorotibial joint, patella, sesamoid, biomechanics
- Copyright
- © 2014 Chadwick et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2014. Three-dimensional anatomy of the knee joint of ostriches (Struthio camelus) PeerJ PrePrints 2:e547v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.547v1
Abstract
The three-dimensional anatomy of the ostrich (Struthio camelus) knee (femorotibial, femorofibular, and femoropatellar) joint has scarcely been studied, and could elucidate certain mechanobiological properties of sesamoid bones. The adult ostrich is unique in that it has double patellae, while another similar ratite bird, the emu, has none. Understanding why these patellae form and what purpose they may serve is dually important for future studies on ratites as well as understanding mechanobiological characteristics of sesamoid bone development. For this purpose, we present a three-dimensional anatomical study of the ostrich knee joint, detailing osteology, ligaments and menisci, and myology. We have identified seven muscles which connect to the two patellae and compare our findings to past descriptions. These descriptions can be used to further study the biomechanical loading and implications of the double patella in the ostrich.
Author Comment
This submission is under review at PeerJ.