The withers is the highest point on an animal's back, on the ridge between its shoulder blades. The height of an animal is measured from the ground to the withers because that is a fairly stable and predictable height when the animal is standing still. Unlike humans, whose heads are in a fairly fixed position when standing upright and looking forward, animals can move their heads easily into a wide range of positions when standing still, so it makes a poor location for measuring the animal's height. In human anatomy, the shoulder joint is composed of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) (see diagram). ...

This term is used primarily for four-legged domestic animals, such as dogs and horses. This is a list of animals that have been domesticated by humans. ... Trinomial name Canis lupus familiaris The Dog is a canine carnivorous mammal that has been domesticated for at least 14,000 years and perhaps for as long as 150,000 years based on recent evidence. ... Binomial name Equus caballus The Horse (Equus caballus) is a large ungulate mammal, one of the seven modern species of the genus Equus. ...