(closest to the center of the body) bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping. The femur is found only in rear legs. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with the tibia and patella forming the knee joint. By most measures the femur is the strongest bone in the body. The femur is also the longest bone in the body. The femur is the longest, heaviest and by most measures the strongest bone in the human body. Its length is 26% of the person's height, a ratio that is useful in anthropology because it offers a basis for a reasonable estimate of a subject's height from an incomplete skeleton. The femur is categorized as a long bone and comprises a diaphysis, the shaft and two epiphysis or extremities that articulate with adjacent bones in the hip and knee