Today I worked on an African Spoonbill. These aquatic birds have a very characteristic 'spoon' shaped bill that is used for foraging and sifting for small aquatic creatures in the shallow water. This bird had an injured hallux that was radiographed and repaired. Tha hallux is analogus to the thumb of other animals including man. The orientation and shape of birds toes relates to the function of the feet and the environment in which the bird lives. Aquatic birds have webbed feet for swimming or long slender feet for wading and walking on aquatic plants. Raptors (birds of prey) have 3 forward toes with the hallux in the back; these birds use the hallux to help grasp its prey item. Some birds have very small hallux digits that have little function as with the dewclaws of dogs and cats. Just as in dogs and cats, the digits of birds are counted from the thumb to the pinkie, the thumb being digit 1. A bird, such as the spoonbill, has a hallux (digit 1) and 3 additional forward facing toes. The next time you count the number of toes of an animal, don't forget the hallux or dewclaw.
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