"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
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you know how centaurs are imagined half-human half-horse or whatever-legged creature.
usually the top half is human right, and the bottom half, from the hips down is animal.
but what if. What if it’s the other way round.
human legs with semi-human torso and then it’s the big whalloping animal neck and head, with, of course, the two front legs attached to that semi-human body.
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@bunnys-beetlejuice-blog oh whats that? an excuse for another centaur anatomy post??
centaurs have kinda fucked up looking teeth that are basically human teeth turned up to 11 - theyre omniores too, they need meat slicing and plant grinding capabilities, but these guys will eat pretty much everything. it takes a lot of energy to be a centaur, they can't afford to be picky, so they've got jaws built to obliterate anything they put in there.
tried to draw the mental image. heavily inspired by what it looks like when you give a hero forge model canine upper teeth and horse lower teeth
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Creating Clean YA Fantasy: An Interview with Christine Marshall
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So I doubt anyone here remembers one of the first tsams aus I made since I only made one thing for it and that was like…awhile back now-
But since I was struggling with design stuff for death’s keepers au (and I had the strong urge to do this because I’m going horseback riding tomorrow) : centaur au drawings!
Eclipse got a tiny bit of a redesign, his coloration is still based on a seal bay, he’s just fluffier and a lil more interesting looking now lol (ssssh I didn’t color the 2nd one wrong it’s just…perspective…*coughs*)
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do you have a post on your taur anatomy ideas, id love to see that
We have MANY thoughts on anatomy for taurs and you just gave us a perfect reason to ramble xD
Our skinless friend here is an elk, but in general taurs all share one common ancestor which split first into Carnivora (all carnivores) and Euungulata (hooved herbivores)*. There are differences in anatomy based on species and size but GENERALLY speaking they have a fair amount of similarities.
(Small note: this is a recent change, which will ALSO have it's own post)
Starting with the skeleton. If you can't read my chicken scratch;
1) "For horned/antlered taurs, head is slightly extended". This has a to do with the weight of the antlers and horns, mostly for strutctural integrity of the skull.
2) The ear holes are located higher than a humans, which is what the blue writing "(also higher) Ears rotate! Limited movement"
3) "Longer necks with thicker bones" is in general for all taurs.
4) Not written, but the ribcage is wider and longer than a humans, to house VERY big lungs and a heart. In a previous post we talked about taurs on Ithiir having long long lungs...
5) "Very soft cartilage ribs" and plates are for extra protection of the esophagus and arteries that flow here. As well as the ends of the freakistly long lungs.
6) "fake belly button!" Has to do with the above point: the cartilage ribs end, causing a divot for most body types (not all). The umbilical cord connects on the lower half of the taurs.
7) "Thick sternum for extra muscle connections"
8) "All muscles and Tendons" pointing to the back of the spine on the upper torso is mostly a note for me. There aren't any organs here, and these tendons work like a draw bridge that is defaulted to remain upright instead of down. It's a big complex system of pullies and ropes basically.
9) "Like a ball joint" and top view of connecting spinal, small nubs, not wide club shape" refer to the seven extra vertebrae of the torso. They work like an animal's neck combined with a human lower back. They are EXTREMELY flexible, since all taurs are about as flexible as a human rather than their animal counterparts (excluding cats and such, they are exactly that flexible). We just call this area "the mid back".
10) "Real belly button =)" like it says, lol
There are... SO many more thoughts than this, we will probably reblog this with a part 2 for organ placement. :)
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