Think you know your skeleton?
There’s more to the human body’s framework than meets the eye.
Take a closer look at the fascinating facts and lesser-known secrets of the human skeleton:
There are 206 bones in an adult skeleton.
When you are born you have over 300 but as you grow, some fuse together to form larger bones.
There are two types of bone.
Hard cortical bone which forms the structure and softer trabecular bone found inside the hard bone and houses bone marrow responsible for producing over 500 billion cells a day.
Half your bones are in the hands and feet alone. 54 in your hands, 52 in your feet.
The biggest joint is your knee joint where the femur, tibia and patella all join.
Plates of bone meet at joints to form your skull and is the only joint that doesn’t move.
The smallest bone is in your inner ear and is called the stapes, along with the hammer and anvil bones they translate sound into waves so your brain will understand it.
There is one bone that is connected to no other bones at all. The hyoid or floating bone is in your throat and holds your tongue in place with muscles, cartilage and ligaments
The funny bone isn’t a bone at all and is actually the ulnar nerve which runs through your elbow. If it is knocked, it causes a “funny” tingling sensation in your arm which isn’t funny at all at the time.
Want to bring these fascinating facts to life in your classroom? Our range of anatomical skeleton models are perfect for helping students explore the human body up close.
Explore our range of skeleton models here.
Happy Halloween from the SLS Select Education Team! 🎃💀