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For other uses, see Leg (disambiguation) .

In general, a leg is any of the parts of an animal's Body that support the rest of the body above the ground, and are used for Locomotion .

Legs mostly come in even-numbered quantities that are characteristic of some Taxonomic groups:
  • in Vertebrates , 2 (the Biped s) or 4 (the Quadruped s);

  • in many familiar Arthropods , 6, 8, or 12;

  • in some arthropods, more than a dozen and sometimes over 100 -- but despite what their names might suggest,

  • --- Centipede s seldom have exactly a hundred, and

  • --- Millipede s apparently never even approach a thousand.


In most quadrupeds and bipeds, legs consist of two main parts, attached to the body at one end, and to the Foot at the other, and jointed at the Knee .


THE HUMAN LEG

See Also: Human leg


The bones of the human leg are:

The front edge of the tibia is not covered by a thick layer of muscle or fat: this is why being kicked in the shins is so painful.


WHY DO HORSES' KNEES BEND BACKWARDS?

Although some quadrupeds such as {horses}appear to have reverse-bending knees on their back legs, the apparent backwards-bending knee is actually the equivalent of an ankle joint, with the entire lower leg being part of the "foot", and the apparent ankle being the equivalent of a finger joint. The actual "true" equivalent of the knee joint, the Stifle Joint , is internal to the horse's body, and bends in the same direction as other knees.


SEE ALSO