Talk:Hindlimb

Horses
If a hindlimb is just a posterior limb, how could a horse be born without hindlimb ?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 164.2.255.244 (talk) 11:07, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Unsigned comment (2016)
Who the hell wrote this article? A fourth grader?

There’s only one source in this article
I just added a template to the article. This article only has one source cited. Please improve the article by adding citations. Meltdown reverter (talk) 02:37, 14 March 2022 (UTC)

Content-fork
Why does this article exist? For that matter, why does the article about forelimbs exist? Shouldn't both articles simply be covered under the topic of "limbs", which is also an existing article on Wikipedia? Jargo Nautilus (talk) 07:40, 19 January 2023 (UTC)

All tetrapods have four limbs, whereas arthropods, molluscs, and other groups of invertebrates have independently evolved their own types of limbs. Regarding tetrapodal limbs, I don't think we need two articles about forelimbs and hind limbs of tetrapods. We can just have one article about tetrapod limbs (which, granted, are distinct enough from the limbs of invertebrates to warrant their own article). Jargo Nautilus (talk) 07:42, 19 January 2023 (UTC)

These articles are all interrelated: Fin, Flipper (anatomy), Wing, Bird wing (Bird flight), Bat wing development (Bat flight), Limb (anatomy), Leg (Human leg), Upper limb (Arm*), Forelimb, Hindlimb.

* Note: The article about "arms" is also about "upper arms" (the human shoulder to the elbow), whereas there is a distinctive article about the forearm. There are also articles: thigh, calf (leg), knee, shoulder, and elbow. The leg-related equivalent of "shoulder" would be pelvis, which of course also has its own article. It seems that the article about "upper arm" doesn't exist because most of the content is already covered in the articles about arms, shoulders, and elbows.

It would seem that the articles about "forelimbs" and "hindlimbs" are actually better described as content-forks of the article about legs, as opposed to the article about limbs. Limbs can be subdivided into many types, including fins/flippers, wings, upper limbs, and legs. But "forelimbs" are basically legs in four-legged animals, whereas they are the ancestral structure behind wings, flippers, and upper arms that are possessed by various types of tetrapods. And hind legs are pretty much exclusively legs, except in the case of aquatic/marine tetrapods, some of whom have evolved them into flippers. Birds are also somewhat unique in that the hindlimbs are used virtually like hands, due to their lack of forearms. And other tetrapods might use their hindlimbs for specialist purposes, such as arboreal tetrapods (e.g. monkeys) and jumping tetrapods (such as kangaroos, rabbits, and frogs). Again though, I'm not exactly sure that we need distinctive articles about "forelimbs" (forelegs) and "hindlimbs" (hindlegs), since those topics are already largely covered by both the articles "legs" and "limbs (anatomy)". Jargo Nautilus (talk) 08:13, 19 January 2023 (UTC)

For some bizarre reason, the article about limbs (anatomy) doesn't even hyperlink into the article about legs (anywhere throughout), even though you would think this would be obvious; the "limb (anatomy)" article also has two navigation boxes at the bottom, but neither one of them links back into the article (which, leads me to suspect that "limb (anatomy)" is itself a content fork of "leg").

Meanwhile, this very article, "hindlimb", doesn't link into the "leg" article either, which is also baffling. Jargo Nautilus (talk) 08:44, 19 January 2023 (UTC)