digitigrade

/'didʤitigreid/

Thân thiện

A cat walks in a digitigrade posture across the soft grass.

Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Walking on the toes with the heel raised: Describes a manner of walking where an animal walks on its toes (digits), with the posterior part of the foot (the metatarsals or metacarpals) not touching the ground. This is characteristic of certain mammals like cats, dogs, and horses.

2. Noun:

   • An animal that walks in this manner: A creature, typically a mammal, that walks so that only its toes make contact with the ground.

Usage

• Adjective:

  • The term is used in zoological and anatomical contexts to describe locomotion.
  • It is often contrasted with plantigrade (walking with the entire sole on the ground, like humans and bears) and unguligrade (walking on hooves/nails, like deer).
  • Example: Cats are digitigrade animals, which contributes to their quiet, stealthy movement.

• Noun:

  • Used to categorize or refer to animals based on their foot posture.
  • Example: The cheetah, a fast digitigrade, relies on this posture for speed.

Examples

• Adjective:

  • The digitigrade posture of dogs gives them a springy, efficient gait for running.
  • Scientists studied the digitigrade foot structure in ancient predators.

• Noun:

  • Most predators in the cat family are digitigrades.
  • The fossil record helps identify whether an extinct species was a digitigrade or a plantigrade.

Advanced Usage

• The concept is crucial in fields like biomechanics, paleontology, and veterinary science for understanding animal movement, evolution, and anatomy.
• It can be used descriptively in more technical creative writing. Example:

Variants and Related Words

• Digitigradism (n): The condition or characteristic of being digitigrade. (Less common)
• Plantigrade (adj/n): Walking with the full sole on the ground (e.g., humans, raccoons).
• Unguligrade (adj/n): Walking on the tips of toes protected by a hoof (e.g., horses, deer).

Synonyms

• Toe-walking (adj, descriptive phrase, less technical).
• There are no direct single-word synonyms for the noun form; it is a specific taxonomic descriptor.

Related Phrases/Idioms

• There are no common idioms or phrasal verbs containing "digitigrade." It is a specialized scientific term.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. (of mammals) walking on the toes with the posterior part of the foot raised (as cats, dogs, and horses do)

Noun

1. an animal that walks so that only the toes touch the ground as e.g. dogs and cats and horses

Từ đồng nghĩa

• digitigrade mammal