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Friday 18 January 2013

Bone

Bones are rigid organs that make up the vertebrate skeletal system. They provide structural support, protect internal organs, facilitate movement, store minerals like calcium and phosphorus, and serve as sites for blood cell formation in the bone marrow. 


HUMAN BONES

A newborn baby has around 300 bones. Many of these fuse together to leave an adult's 206.

About 20 per cent of human body weight derives from the 206 bones that make up the skeleton.

The feet account for one quarter of all the bones in a human body.

The smallest bone in the human body is the stapes bone which is located in the middle ear. It is only 1/10 of an inch long.

The femur, or thigh-bone, is the longest bone in the human body. It is also the strongest bone in your body.

A cubic inch of bone is approximately four times as strong as concrete.

The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone.

Human bones are 31% water.

44% of  humans have broken a bone.

Bone cells burn about 2.3 calories per kilogram.

Bones without enough calcium intake can self-destruct.



According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the bones in a skull and cross-bones are thigh-bones.

The world record for the most broken bones in a lifetime is held by Evel Knievel, the famous motorcycle stuntman. He sustained 433 fractures by the end of 1975, when he retired from major performances.

Knievel was known for his daredevil stunts, which often involved jumping over large objects or crashing into them. He suffered his first broken bone in 1967, when he crashed his motorcycle during a jump at the Snake River Canyon. He continued to break bones throughout his career, and by the time he retired, he had broken bones in almost every part of his body.

There is a mutation that causes bones to become eight times denser than normal that allow people to walk away from car accidents without a single fracture but with a trade off of being unable to swim.


Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is a rare genetic disease that gradually turns your entire body into bone. Surgical removal of the bone only causes more bone to grow in its place.

Bones aren't white, but are a creamy beige like color. The bones in museums are a solid white because they have been boiled and cleaned.

ANIMAL BONES

The longest pythons in the world have the most bones. They have 600 vertebrae, which equates to 1,800 bones.

The upper lip bone of a blue whale is the largest bone ever known. The art of carving on whale bones is called 'scrimshaw'.

The vertebrates with the fewest bones are Chondrichthyes, sharks, rays, skates and sawfish, which have skeletons made of cartilage.


The bearded vulture is the only known animal whose diet consists almost entirely of bone. The bird is capable of swallowing a sheep's vertebrae whole. Its stomach acid has been estimated to have a pH of 1, so even large bones are digested within 24 hours.

1 comment:

  1. Interesting collection of 'boney' fun facts

    ReplyDelete