ABSTRACT
The bones of the body make up its internal supporting framework or skeleton without which the body would collapse like a jellyfish out of water. Through the course of human evolution, the more general four-legged support of the mammalian body concerned entirely with locomotion has given place to locomotion confined to the lower limbs, with the upper limbs becoming specialised for prehensile activities. Bones can be classified as those of the axial skeleton and those of the appendicular skeleton. Bones can also be classified according to their shape as long, short, flat, irregular. Bones are held together to form joints, most of which are mobile, so enabling the whole or selected parts of the body to move as required by the muscles acting upon them. The axial skeleton consists of the skull, hyoid bone, vertebrae, ribs and costal cartilages, and the sternum.
