animal anatomy directional terms

basic directional terms

cranial vs caudal

cranial —> towards head

caudal —> towards tail

dorsal vs ventral

dorsal —> towards back / away from ground

ventral —> towards stomach / towards ground

palmar vs plantar

palmar —> back of front legs (bottom half below knee towards ground)

plantar —> back of back legs (bottom half below knee towards ground)

• front of all paws are considered dorsal (away from ground)

medial vs lateral

medial —> from front view, towards the middle

lateral —> from front view, away from middle

proximal vs distal

proximal —> towards main part of body

distal —> away from main part of body

superficial vs deep

superficial —> towards surface (skin)

deep —> deeper inside body

supra vs infra

supra —> prefix for above

infra —> prefix for below

• many paired parts of the body have prefixes supra- and infra-, and supra is the one above the infra

median plane

plane that evenly splits the body into two; goes down the front view

sagittal plane

splits down the front view, but splits unevenly

• parallel to median

transverse plane

plane that splits down the middle in side view, which is perpendicular to the median and sagittal planes

frontal plane

horizontal plane that separates the ventral from the dorsal

• also known as coronal plane

• also known as dorsal plane