#centaur anatomy

[squidlife-crisis]

notes on my centaurs' anatomy:

+ Not a man horse but an arboreal hexapod primate that's been knuckle walking for a few million years

+ the "human half" contains the thoracic organs. the "horse half" contains the abdominal organs.

+ avg weight ~200lb/90kg

+ there is only one ribcage. they just lost some in the middle. the "lower sternum" is just the xiphoid process, here developed into its own separate bone

+ the "lower ribcage" remains to protect the liver and provide muscle attachment for the middle extremities

+ the coracoid and scapulare fused to make the "scapula" of the middle extremities

+ feet and bellies are less hairy. they bald from the ground up

+ they have bird lungs and no diaphragm bc thats just how primates evolved in this verse

+ however they do not have any pneumatized bones anymore. plenty of peritoneal air sacs

+ the umbilicus is not in the midriff. i need to stop trying to draw it there.

+ only two titties on a centaur girl. they are primates

[beescared1]

If centaurs have two ribcages, one horse once human, in which do they have the heart? Do they have two hearts? Do the two hearts have to work half as much to get the right amount of blood, if that’s even how hearts work? If they get a heart attack in one is the other one fine, does half of them die, do both get a simultaneous heart attack?? Do they have two stomachs too?? How to they connect??? Do they need to eat twice as much?????

[kansaspieco]

"Centaurs have two rib cages"

"Centaurs have two digestive tracts"

WRONG.*

The human torso is simply the neck of the horse. Now this may seem a bit weird, but this is a fantasy creature so hear me out. Anatomy, especially with how it can adapt, is incredible so I propose that the spine would more towards the middle of the human torso as seen in Figure 1 which is where the cervical spine of the horse would be (Figure 2). Along with that, the human torso wouldn't be as long as most people draw them, and it would be closer to the length of a horse (average length of a male human torso is 43-45in/109-114cm, not including the head/neck which can add an extra 11.9-13.7in/30.2-34.8cm versus a horse's neck which is approximately 36in/91cm. Please keep in mind these are rough approximations from a few google searches). Here's where things get more funky, instead of an extra ribcage to keep that human shape, the horse neck muscles, and some human torso muscles, would adapt to the shape of a torso while still keeping some of the aspects of the human musculoskeletal system. I haven't put as much thought into the the chest structure itself, but since the clavicle would remain, I would assume so would the sternum.. ish. The main thing that I focused on is the muscles. Figure 1 shows the approximate layout of these muscles with the human face and arm muscles remaining the same along with keeping the major muscles of the horse's neck. However some muscles from both human and horse, although more of the horse's anatomy will need to change to become "flatter" (more human torso like). I did not add the neck tendons/ligaments to Figure 1, but those would also change configuration to comply with the form of the torso. The function of the human torso would act in place of the horse's neck with a modified horse (maybe mixed with human) digestive tract (which I will likely dive more into at some point because it would likely need to change in order to accommodate the more human style diet I have no clue, but the digestive tract would definitely need to change since the human teeth are not suited for how a horse grazes which messes up everything in the already awful thing that is the horse digestive tract)

Images:

Figure 1: Proposed centaur musculoskeletal system

Figure 2: Horse skeleton

Figure 3: Horse muscle chains

Figure 4: Horse superficial muscles

Figure 5: Human skeleton

Anyways this was just done for fun, if you don't agree, that's fine, if have different ideas I'd love to hear them! I fell down this rabbit hole yesterday after getting into a conversation about centaur anatomy and hating the two digestive tract/rib cage ideas so here you go, the idea of the horse neck = human torso Centaur is released into the world so y'all are free to do with it as you will

Sources:

Me, just trust me bro (all jokes aside, I'm a pre-vet biology major and am working on becoming certified in equine massage along with being a huge fan of fantasy creatures)

Horses Inside Out: Gillian Higgins

Image credits:

Horse: GDJ- pixabay

Human: not sure of original source, found the used image on Pinterest by a few different people

*none of this can be proven as a fact so it is not a definite "wrong" I just needed an attention grabber

[satin-polar]

The thing with Centaurs Anatomy is that. You replace a horse head with a half human body. Horse heads don't have a lot in them, but they decided to put half of our bodies with the most important parts on a horse head.

[shirecorn]

centuar are so fucking weird man, I want an oc but they're so goofy looking, how do they relax???

Centaur beds are actually much simpler than you think they are. Horse joints can lock upright for sleeping, while the humanoid body needs to recline.

The horse body is built to sleep standing up or laying on the hard ground, so there's no need to find fancy mattresses for cushioning the whole creature.

Because centaurs are so much less common than humans, many make use of human bedding and just adjust the height to suit their needs. But there are shops that manufacture or modify mattresses more ergonomically designed to fit centaur needs.

It's also possible for centaurs, especially foals, to sleep on the ground or with a simple beanbag to prop them up.

The worst complication of centaur sleeping habits is possible backaches from using a bed at the wrong height. Massages can help relieve symptoms but it's really best to adjust the object you use as a bed to match the 90 degree height of your reclining body.

[whosbex]

GUYS SERIOUS QUESTION ABT CENTAURS!

So we all know that they have two rib cages. One for the human part and one for the horse right?

Well does that mean they have two of every organ? Since the two parts of the bodies that they possess usually contain the organs?

If so dose that mean they have two stomachs? And if they do how does the food from the human stomach get to the horse stomach?

And for the woman, do they only have one uterus?since they only have the horses reproductive part?

Genuinely asking and I need answers. Y’all can’t get mad I’m asking the real questions here

[the-brain-of-my-thought]

NOTE TO SELF AND ALL WHO MAY CARE ABOUT READING IT

do NOT visualize or think about centaur anatomy

[punstars]

Have you ever seen a centaur that wasn't ripped?