hand
Sign in to saveA hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "hand" and fingerprints extremely similar to human fingerprints) are often described as having "hands" instead of paws on their front limbs. The raccoon is usually described as having "hands" though opposable thumbs are lacking.
AI overview
A hand is a flexible, multi-fingered appendage at the end of the forearm found in primates like humans and chimpanzees, and in some other animals like koalas and raccoons. Hands matter because their design—particularly features like opposable thumbs in many species—enables these animals to grasp, manipulate objects, and perform complex tasks.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Anatomy.Name
- Hand
- Anatomy.Latin
- manus
- Anatomy.Greek
- χείρ (kheír)
- Anatomy.Image
- File:Hand, fingers - back.jpg
- Anatomy.Caption
- Back of a human's left hand
- Anatomy.Width
- 150px
- Anatomy.Image2
- File:Palm, fingers.jpg
- Anatomy.Caption2
- Front of a human's left hand
- Anatomy.Width2
- 150px
- Anatomy.Vein
- Dorsal venous network of hand
- Anatomy.Nerve
- Ulnar, median, radial nerves
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
18 sectionsContents
- Structure
- Areas
- Bones
- Arches
- Muscles
- Intrinsic
- Extrinsic
- Nerve supply
- Blood supply
- Skin
- Variation
- Functions
- Clinical significance
- Evolution
- Additional images
- See also
- References
- External links
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "hand" and fingerprints extremely similar to human fingerprints) are often described as having "hands" instead of paws on their front limbs. The raccoon is usually described as having "hands" though opposable thumbs are lacking.
Some evolutionary anatomists use the term hand to refer to the appendage of digits on the forelimb more generally—for example, in the context of whether the three digits of the bird hand involved the same homologous loss of two digits as in the dinosaur hand.