how many bones do a pig, cow, and sheep skeleton have?

March 17, 2006 10:51 AM

how many bones do a pig, cow, and sheep skeleton have?

My other half is currently studying a faunal module at university, and today she rang me up asking to do a search on how many bones a pig, cow, sheep actually have. I've tried searching but came up with nothing. Does anyone know?

posted by Nik_Doof to Pets & Animals (8 answers total)

You need some sort of an anatomy book. Other than that, I'm not sure where to look... Humans have about 200 or so (plus or minus some funky sesamoid bones here and there) but these critters will display some fusion of bones that remain separate in us, mostly in the lower fore and hind limbs. Also, we have some things fused that are separate in other mammals (mostly in the skull).

All mammals have 7 cervical and 3 inner ear (6 inner ear total). Although we have a single fused mandible (lower jaw) many other mammals have two dentary bones with a symphysis at the chin. So say 7+6+2... I suppose you could start from there and keep counting...
posted by caution live frogs at 11:16 AM on March 17, 2006

A cow has 207 bones.
posted by solid-one-love at 1:12 PM on March 17, 2006

I think you just made that up, solid.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 1:21 PM on March 17, 2006

I tried googling "bones in a X's body" but only got results for cows. 207 is right. Humans have 206 bones.
posted by driveler at 1:30 PM on March 17, 2006

Wouldn't make up a thing like that, BB. Cows is tasty, and when I eat one I like to know just how many bones I get to gnaw on.
posted by solid-one-love at 8:08 PM on March 17, 2006

Ok, now I have a question: what is the extra bone the cow has?
posted by IvyMike at 9:26 AM on March 18, 2006

It's not one extra bone; a cow doesn't have fingers or toes like a human, and has a tail, more complicated knees, and so forth.
posted by solid-one-love at 9:48 AM on March 18, 2006

There's some debate, apparently, about how many bones the cat skeleton has; I find numbers from 230 to 246.

Here is a mounted pig skeleton viewed from all directions. I did not have the patience to count, and I couldn't find a ref on the web with the number, despite my best google-fu.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:36 PM on March 19, 2006