Skeletal System Facts

Oh, what a multipurpose thing we’ve stumbled upon! It forms the framework on which the rest of our body is able to hang itself and bear its own weight. It serves as a safety grill that cages all our internal organs and keeps them from turning wild. It is also a thing that has been widely used by horror lovers, time and again, to scare the bejesus out of us. It is the first thing that creeps into our mind with the images of many “Its” coming out of the graves, giving us dancing nightmares. You, of course, know what we are talking about, don’t you? It is but the skeleton system. Time to get a little technical - a human skeletal system aka the internal skeleton serves as the framework consisting of many bones and cartilages that make up for a human body. It has been subdivided into two, the axial part and the appendicular part. Our skeletal system serves five different functions of support, protection, motion, blood cell production, and storage. In adults, the skeleton makes up for 15-20 percent of total body weight. But this article is not about going into the depths of a skeletal system so we’ll leave it at that and move on to some interesting facts about skeletal system.

Interesting Facts About Skeletal System

There are 206 bones in an adult human body.
A baby is born with 300 bones. But throughout the growth years, many of the bones of the skull and spine fuse together.
Bones do not move on their own, they need the help of the muscles attached to the bones.
Bones have life. They’re made up of living cells that is why they can grow and repair themselves.
The longest bone, about one-quarter of a person’s overall height, is the femur bone. It’s located in the leg.
The smallest bone in the body is the stirrup bone, located deep inside the ear. It is just a little larger than a grain of rice.
The largest bone in the body is the pelvic bone.
Collar bone is the most frequently broken bone in a human body. It is also known as clavicle.
Hyoid bone is the only bone that is not connected to any other bone. It is located in the throat of a human’s body.
Most bones consist of two types of bone tissues, namely compact hard bones and spongy bone.
More than half of the bones in the body are located in the hands and feet together.
Humans and giraffes have the same number of bones in their necks. It is just that giraffes have a much longer vertebra.
Bones are filled with a substance called bone marrow that is critical for the production of red and white blood cells.
There are two types of bone marrow. Red marrow produces blood cells while yellow marrow produces fatty cells.
At birth, all bone marrow is red.
The ears and the end of the nose don't have bones. These parts of the body are given their shape by cartilage.
Cartilage is lighter and flexible than bone, allowing movement and the ability to bend.
Cartilage degrades faster than bone that is why many human remains are found without a nose or ears.
Cartilage contains no blood vessels or nerve cells.
Embryos contain cartilage, not bones.

Have no bones to pick with anyone if you want to keep all the bones of your skeletal system intact.

How to Cite

Related Articles

See also

More in 'Art & Entertainment'