Gross Anatomical Studies on the Fore Limb of the West African Giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis peralta)

This study on the Gross anatomy of the West African Giraffe’s forelimb was aimed at investigating the unique mor- phological features and number of bones making up this region of the an- imal’s skeleton. Two adult West African giraffe carcasses at different times after postmortem examination were prepared to extract the bones via cold water maceration for use in the study. The Scapula presented a spine on its lateral surface, lacking a spinal tubercle and ended abruptly without the acromion process before reaching the glenoid angle. The proximal extremity of the humerus presented two intertuberal grooves separated by an intermediate tubercle. Its shaft was entirely smooth on all sides, lacking the deltoid tuberosity and teres major tubercle, while presenting a very shallow almost non-existent musculospiral groove at its lateral distal third. The Ulna bone was reduced to a thin plate as it runs the entire length of the radius before ending distally as the lateral styloid process. The 6 carpals were arranged in two rows of 4 proximal and 2 distal. The metacarpal (fused 3rd and 4th) presented two condyles that anchored two digits with three phalanges and three sesamoids for each. The total number of bones making up the fore-limb was accounted to be 46. In con- clusion, this study provides a baseline data for further biological, archeological and comparative anatomical stud- ies.