Talk:Paw

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[edit] Human paw

Is there any sort of semi-authoritative definition of a paw? The current definition, "the soft foot of a mammal", would seem to include, say, human and mouse feet, neither of which are generally called "paws". Is this just an artifact of English usage, or do biologists recognize a concept of "paw" with some sort of narrower definition? --Delirium 20:52, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

AIUI the human foot is technically a paw, though we tend to call it foot to differentiate. Huamsn tend to like to deny our animal physicality, which may be one reason why our fur is called hair, our paws feet, & so on. Tabby (talk) 00:03, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Six digits?

I can only count five digits on the tiger's paw, if you include the back one. Is this a mistake, or have I misunderstood?--Jcvamp 04:21, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

I doubt that the rear pad should be considered a digit any more than the human heal would be considered a digit. Some mammals, dogs, etc, do have additional dewclaws, but I don't see them here. --Bcsr4ever 04:34, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Well, if there were five including the rear pad (I don't know much about cat anatomy, so I was unsure whether it was equivalent to our thumb) and the rear pad isn't a digit, that leaves four, which still isn't six like the picture said. People seem to pick up on the irrelevant parts of my arguments... Anyway, it's been removed.--Jcvamp 15:48, 18 September 2006 (UTC)