How many bones are in the human body?

The adult human body has 206 bones. An infant may have from 300-350 bones at birth. Some of these fuse together as the infant grows. When some bones fuse and become one bone (most obvious examples are in the skull, sacrum and hip bones) the number of overall bones drops to the 206 bones that most adults have.

Of the 206 bones in the adult human body, more than half (106) are in the hands and feet.

The adult skeleton consists of the following bones:

28 skull bones (8 cranial, 14 facial, and 6 ear bones)
the horseshoe-shaped hyoid bone of the neck
26 vertebrae (7 cervical or neck; 12 thoracic; 5 lumbar or loins; the sacrum, which is five fused vertebrae; and the coccyx, which is four fused vertebrae)
24 ribs plus the sternum or breastbone; the shoulder girdle (2 clavicles, the most frequently fractured bones in the body, and 2 scapulae)
the pelvic girdle (2 fused bones)
30 bones in each of the arms and legs (a total of 120)
a few partial bones, ranging from 8-18 in number, which are related to joints

There are individual variations: for example, some people are born with an extra rib or lumbar vertebra and not everyone has Inca (sutural) bones.

Interesting facts:

The hand has 27 bones, the foot has 26 and the face has 14.
The longest bone in your body, the femur (thigh bone), is about 1/4 of your height. The smallest is the stapes (or stirrup) in the ear which is about 1/10 of an inch.
Humans and giraffes have the same number of bones in their necks.
Most of the bones in the body are in the hands.

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First answer by Snapplellama. Last edit by RoyR. Contributor trust: 3828 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 141 [recommend question]

Related links

Mc.maricopa.edu: Darwin's Rib

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