EXTREMITIES

 

ARMS

All the male ducks seem to have some amount of physical strength in their arms (Donald and Scrooge have been seen flexing from time to time and their muscles become visible). Still, in some stories the ducks show little strength, while in others they lift weights, perform gymnastics, and climb ropes - not to mention fighting bad guys and ferocious animals barehanded!

In U$55 McDuck of Arabia we get a clear indication of whom is the stronger, Donald or Scrooge. Here the two ducks are playing Bean Bag, a game in which they have to throw heavy sacks of money the longest distance. Old Scrooge has no problem winning over young Donald...

 

HANDS

The very first comic book story with Donald was published in 1934 with art by Al Taliaferro. At that time Donald's hands were considerably more wing-like than humanized, but that soon changed. He - and all the other ducks - got hands with four fingers (standard issue in Disney's series), and they grew so versatile that they can easily be (mis)taken for human hands.

In lots of stories Donald is seen as being left-handed, but he is also being frequently seen as right-handed. He must be ambidextrous.

 

FEET

Male and female ducks persumably have the same shape of web feet, but we shall never know for sure, because the girls always wear shoes while boys do not (the repeated exception is Scrooge who, in his younger years, normally wore different types of shoes as can be seen in several flashbacks in the stories). Still, we might hope that the girls' feet are considerably narrower, otherwise they are bound to have obvious problems when they put on their narrow shoes - just think of Grandma and her pointy bootees!

The boys' feet are of an especially sturdy construction; they can run through rough terrain, they can drop objects on them, they can - literally - go through the coldest winters on them. Nothing seems to harm them seriously.

Another astonishing feature is their ability to move quicker than the eye. In numerous stories we have witnessed how the ducks can move extremely fast on their feet. In fact, they move so quickly that we do not even see them!

 

 

 

http://www.cbarks.dk/theanatomyextremities.htm   Date 2006-11-13