Who has the longest arms among animals?

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Relative to the size of the body.

Who has the longest arms among animals?

A humpback whale's 16-foot-long flippers, which evolved from the arms of their terrestrial mammalian ancestors, would easily outmatch any other species based on their size.

Non-flying mammals, on the other hand, are dominated by two species. Gibbons, a tribe of branch-swinging apes found in Southeast Asian jungles, have the longest arms in relation to their body size, according to a brief search. According to Mary Ellen Holden, a zoologist and mammalogist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, a few species of three-toed sloth rank first.

An important factor to consider for comparing mammalian limbs is the intermembral (IM) index, which is calculated by multiplying the length of an animal's forelimbs by the length of its hindlimbs by a factor of 100. This means our arms are around 70 percent longer than our legs on average.

Whether a creature was ever living or long since extinct, its limb usage can be determined by its IM index. Quadrapedes, which include creatures that can run, jump, and climb, tend to have higher IM indices than bipeds, which typically range from 50 to 80. Suspensory motion, such as swinging from trees, is known as brachiated motion. IM values above 100 tend to correlate with suspensory motion. Forelimb length can also be linked to a knuckle-walking, a practice favored by giant apes like chimpanzees, and atypical gait patterns, such as those of hyenas, which have sloped backs and tend to lope ahead at speeds where other quadrupeds would trot, Holden added.

One of the best primate IM index competitors is a gibbon with arms nearly 1.5 times the length of their legs. Both the extremely endangered Siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) and the critically endangered black crested gibbon (Nomascus concolor), found in China, Laos, and northern Vietnam, have IM indexes of 140 and 147 on average, according to the International Monkey Index. Humans with these proportions would have arms that are nearly twice as long as they are now.

A selection for longer and longer arm lines occurred as gibbons developed to forage by gripping and hanging from branches. A full 360-degree range of motion is possible with their shoulders.

Sloths, on the other hand, defeated the brachiators: IM scores of 171 and 172 indicate that pale-throated and brown-throated sloths have arms that are 1.7 times longer than their legs on average. Although sloths are excellent swimmers, they like to hang out on branches and creep along them at a snail's pace. Gibbons, on the other hand, can quickly swing from one limb to the next. The arms of certain sloths are twice the length of their legs, says Holden.

According to Holden, certain Bradypus three-toed sloth species have the longest arms in relation to their bodies. The relative arm length of sloths and gibbons is greater than either.

Reference : https://www.livescience.com/what-animal-has-longest-arms

Image source : https://pixabay.com/id/photos/pohon-gurun-alam-hutan-3822149/

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