The lower leg section of a raptor is known as the

• A. Wing bone
• B. Neck vertebrae
• C. Beak tip
• D. Lower leg section

Answer: (D)

In birds, the leg is divided into segments: the thigh above, the lower leg below the knee, and then the foot. The portion between the knee and the ankle is commonly called the lower leg, or the shank, and it contains bones like the tibiotarsus. So the term that best describes the lower leg section is literally “lower leg section.” The other options refer to unrelated body parts—wing bones belong to the wing, neck vertebrae are in the neck, and the beak tip is part of the bill—so they don’t describe the lower leg.