Bones have two purposes. Some, like your backbone, provide the structure which enables you to stand erect instead of lying like a puddle on the floor. Other bones protect the delicate, and sometimes soft insides of your body.

Parts Involved in the Skeleton

• Bones – adult skeletons have 206; newborns have significantly more that fuse with age
• Cartilage – tense connective tissue that serves structurally and protectively
• Ligaments – bands of fibrous connective tissue that connect bones to other bones (forming a joint)

Framework Functions

• Structural integrity
• Protection for other systems
• Blood cell production occurs in the marrow

Skeletal Fun Facts

You have over 230 movable and semi-movable joints in your body. Humans and giraffes have the same number of neck bones; clearly they’re not the same length proportionally!