Related topics: fossil
Skeleton
hideIn biology, a skeleton is a rigid framework that provides protection and structure in many types of animal, particularly those of the phylum Chordata and of the superphylum Ecdysozoa. Exoskeletons are external, as is typical of many invertebrates; they enclose the soft tissues and organs of the body. Exoskeletons may undergo periodic moulting as the animal grows. Endoskeletons are internal, as is typical of many vertebrates; they are usually surrounded by skin and musculature, though they often enclose vital organs. Endoskeletons are attachment points for musculature and act as leverage for movement, and in many animals contain marrow, which produces blood cells. Skeletons may or may not be mineralized - human skeletons are calcified, while shark skeletons are cartilaginous - and may be jointed for flexibility and motility or rigid for structural strength.
The average adult human skeleton has around 206 bones. These bones meet at joints, the majority of which are freely movable. The skeleton also contains cartilage for elasticity. Ligaments are strong strips of fibrous connective tissue that hold bones together at joints, thereby stabilizing the skeleton during movement.
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News tagged with skeleton
Before 'Lucy,' there was 'Ardi': Oldest hominid skeleton provides new evidence for human evolution (w/ Video)
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 01, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (35) |
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In a special issue of Science, an international team of scientists has for the first time thoroughly described Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid species that lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiop ...
Fossil evidence of missing link in the origin of seals, sea lions, walruses found in Canadian Arctic
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Apr 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the United States and Canada have found a fossil skeleton of a newly discovered carnivorous animal, Puijila darwini. New research suggests Puijila is a "missing link" in the ...
47-million-year-old fossil could shed light on primate family tree
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A 47-million-year-old primate fossil, a purported "missing link" between primates and humans, was unveiled this week in New York. The fossil, formally called Darwinius masillae but nicknamed ...
Air-filled bones helped prehistoric reptiles take first flight
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Feb 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In the Mesozoic Era, 70 million years before birds first conquered the skies, pterosaurs dominated the air with sparrow- to Cessna-sized wingspans. Researchers suspected that these extinct ...
Caistor skeleton mystifies archaeologists
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 15, 2009 |
3.5 / 5 (14) |
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A skeleton, found at one of the most important, but least understood, Roman sites in Britain is puzzling experts from The University of Nottingham.
World's first skeletal mount of Paluxysaurus jonesi reveals new biology
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The Early Cretaceous sauropod Paluxysaurus jonesi weighed 20 tons, was 60 feet long and had a neck 26 feet long, according to scientists who prepared the world's first full skeletal mount ...
Cretaceous octopus with ink and suckers -- the world's least likely fossils?
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Mar 17, 2009 |
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New finds of 95 million year old fossils reveal much earlier origins of modern octopuses. These are among the rarest and unlikeliest of fossils. The chances of an octopus corpse surviving long enough to be fossilized are ...
Ancient well, and body, found in Cyprus
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jun 24, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Archaeologists have discovered a water well in Cyprus that was built as long as 10,500 years ago, and the skeleton of a young woman at the bottom of it, an official said Wednesday.
Scientists: New dinosaur species found in SAfrica
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 11, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Scientists say they've discovered a new dinosaur species in South Africa that may help explain how the creatures evolved into the largest animals on land.
Baby mammoth preserved in frozen soil heads to Chicago
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 04, 2009 |
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Sucked to her death in a muddy river bed, a baby woolly mammoth spent 40,000 years frozen in the Siberian permafrost where her body was so perfectly preserved traces of her mother's milk remained in her belly.
Ancient Pacific islanders brought to light
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A find of 60 headless skeletons summer 2009 may reveal the identity of the people who first inhabited the Pacific Ocean archipelago Vanuatu 3000 years ago.
Indonesian elephant fossil opens window to past
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jun 23, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Indonesian scientists are reconstructing the largest, most complete skeleton of a prehistoric giant elephant ever found in the tropics, a finding that may offer new clues into the largely mysterious ...
New piece in the jigsaw puzzle of human origins
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jan 15, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (5) |
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In an article in today's Nature, Uppsala researcher Martin Brazeau describes the skull and jaws of a fish that lived about 410 million years ago. The study may give important clues to the origin of jawed vertebrates, and th ...
The terrible teens of T. rex
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 02, 2009 |
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We all know adolescents get testy from time to time. Thank goodness we don't have young tyrannosaurs running around the neighborhood.
A million-year-old mammoth skeleton found in Serbia: report
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jun 03, 2009 |
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A finely preserved skeleton of a mammoth, believed to be one million years old, was uncovered near an archaeological site in eastern Serbia, local media reported on Wednesday.
