Appendicular

- the female inlet is larger and more circular to facilitate childbirth - female pelvis as a whole is shallower and the bones are lighter and thinner - female ilia flare mroe laterally (makes pelvis/hips wider) - female sacrum is shorter and less curved (bone attached to coccyx that makes up 5 fused vertebrae) - female ischial spines are shorter and farther apart; thus the outlet is larger - female pubic arch is more rounded because the angle of the pubic arch is greater
 * 1. Explain the difference between the male and female pelvis**


 * 2. Name, and explain the shape of, the bones of the appendicular skeleton**

The appendicular skeleton consists of 126 bones in the human body which make motion possible and protects the organs of digestion, excretion, and reproduction. The word appendicular means referring to an appendage or anything attached to a major part of the body, such as the upper and lower extremities.

The appendicular skeleton has six major areas:

Arm Hand Pelvic Girdle Leg Foot**
 * Shoulder Girdle


 * __PELVIS__**

The appendicular skeleton consists of the bones of the upper and lower limbs and the bony girdles that support them on the body trunk. The pelvic girdle consists of **two large, coxal bones** Each coxal bone consists of **three fused bones** namely the **ilium, ischium and the pubis**. The **ilium** is the largest of the three and forms the upper part of the hip bones. The illium consists of alae( which make up the wing like portion of the illium), as well as the illiac crest. The sacrum fits like a wedge posteriorly between the two hip bones. The sacrum has a large, flat articular surface on each side for articulation with the ilia. The sacrum is less curved in women to allow for a pathway for birth.The **ischium** forms the inferior part of the hip bone and the **pubis** the central in front. The location where the ischium and pubis meet is called the obturator foramen. This 'hole' allows for nerves and blood vessels to pass by to get to the thight.The two pubic bones are attached in the middle, on the front side by a **symphysis** which consists of **fibrocartilage** and ligaments, the **pubic symphysis**. The two hip bones and the sacrum form a complete **bony ring, the pelvis**. On the outer side of the point where the fused bones meet, there is a**n acetabullum** into which the head of the femur fits. The pelvic girdle forms a **strong support** for the attachment of the limbs. It **protects** some of the internal organs. In females it forms a strong basin-like structure for **supporting and protecting** the developing foetus during child-bearing.

__**Leg**__

The leg is another member of the appendicular skeleton, which is connected with the pelvis and therefore belongs to the lower body. The leg consists out of the **femur, tibia and fibula**. The femur is our longest bone in our body and therefore also the strongest. It connects to the pelvis on the top and with the tibia in the bottom to give our body a maximum of support, which it needs to be able to stand up right. The femur also belongs to the **long bone** as well as the tibia and fibula. The characteristics of a long bone are the two heads at each end and the long shaft going between the two shafts. In this shaft is a lot of **bone marrow** of the colors **red** or **yellow** depending on the age, which produce the red blood cells in our body. The long bones also consist out of a mix of **spongy and compact bone** what makes the bone very hard and therefore great for **protection** and the spongy bone makes the bone on the other side nice and light so that it is easier to stand up straight. That is the description of a long bone and since we have three of them in our leg, it makes our leg very strong and very important because we need the blood cells, which come form these bones. After we already talked about the femur the next one is the **tibia**. The tibia is located under the femur and is connected with it through a ligament. The tibia is also a long bone as said and has a **crest** on the top of the shaft, which you can feel from the outside if you are thin enough. And the tibia can also connect to the **tarsal** at the lower end. It is very important for supporting the buddies weight but therefore it is actually a little to thin. Therefore you could put it to the list of **improvements** of the appendicular skeleton. The tibia is right next to the last bone of our leg location and that is the fibula. The **fibula** is a long bone as well as the other two ones. The only major difference is that it is **not** **really necessary**. Of course it has a reason that it is there and the reason is to help the tibia to support the upper body weight, but if something happens to your tibia you could actually use the fibula to repair the tibia. So this process shows us that the fibula is not as important as you might think. But in general it is better to have both tibia and fibula don't understand me wrong in that point.

__**Hand**__

The hand is probably the most used and intricate part of our appendicular skeleton. The human hand consists of a broad palm (metacarpus) with 5 digits, attached to the forearm by a joint called the wrist (carpus). The back of the hand is called the dorsum of the hand. Four fingers on the hand are located at the outermost edge of the palm. These four digits can be folded over the palm which allows the grasping of objects. Each finger, starting with the one closest to the thumb, has a commonly-used name to distinguish it from the others: The thumb is connected to the trapezium and is located on one of the sides, parallel to the arm. The thumb can be easily rotated 90°, on a level perpendicular to the palm, unlike the other fingers which can only be rotated approximately 45°. A reliable way of identifying true hands is from the presence of opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs are identified by the ability to be brought opposite to the fingers, a muscle action known as opposition.The human hand has 27 bones: the carpals in the wrist account for 8; there are 5 metacarpals in the palm; the remaining 14 are digital bones, your fingers and thumb. The eight bones of the wrist are arranged in two rows of four. These bones fit into a shallow socket formed by the bones of the forearm.The bones of the distal row are the trapezium, trapezoid, capitate and hamate. The palm has 5 bones ( metacarpals ), one to each of the 5 digits. These metacarpals have a head and a shaft. Human hands contain 14 digital bones, also called phalangies: 2 in the thumb (the thumb has no middle phalanx) and 3 in each of the four fingers. These are: Sesamoid bones are small ossified nodes embedded in the tendons to provide extra leverage and reduce pressure on the underlying tissue. Many exist around the palm at the bases of the digits; the exact number varies between different people. some creepy pictures of hands at the bottom of [|this page]
 * index finger
 * middle finger
 * ring finger
 * little finger
 * the distal phalanx, carrying the nail,
 * the middle phalanx and
 * the proximal phalanx.