Skeleton

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Definition of Skeleton

From the elephant glossary Section: elephant anatomy

Illustration of African elephants skeleton

The frontfoot of asian elephants has five nails. Illustration of African elephants skeleton

The hindfoot of asian elephants has four nails. Illustration of African elephants skeleton

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The skeleton of the elephant is made up of 326–351 bones. The vertebrae are connected by tight joints, which limit the backbone's flexibility. African elephants have 21 pairs of ribs, while Asian elephants have 19 or 20 pairs.

Skeleton
Name	Location
Humerus	Upper bone of the fore limb (in tetrapods) i.e top of the arm
Radius	Pre-axial bone of the fore limb
Ulna	Longer thick bone of fore limb which articulates with the humerus
Carpus	Wrist Joint (In birds the outer joint of the wrist)
Metacarpal	Palm region of the hand
Phalanges	Digits of the hand and feet
Femur	Upper bone of the hind limb (in tetrapods) or the third segment of the leg in insects
Tibia	Shin bone; anterior long bone of lower hind limb
Fibula	Posterior of lower hind limb
Tarsus	ankle (in mammals) or lower long bone of the leg (in birds)
Metatarsal	Linked to the tarsus and phalanges
Pectoral girdle
Scapula	Dorsal part or shoulder (in mammals)
Coracoid	Extends from scapula
Clavicle	Collar bone, ventral side of the shoulder
Pelvic girdle
Ilium	Dorsal section articulates with the sacral vertebrae
Ischium	Projects backwards on ventral side
Pubis	Anterior ventral part

Reference list Koehl, Dan, (2025). Skeleton. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 20 September 2021 at https://www.elephant.se/index.php?id=32. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Selected publications

Mariappa, D: Anatomy and Histology of the Indian Elephant
Shoshani, J. (1996) Skeletal and other basic anatomical features of elephants. It The Proboscidea: Evolution and Paleoecology of Elephants and Their Relatives (eds. J. Shoshani & P. Tassy), pp. 9-20. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York/Tokyo. 472P.

Links about Skeleton

Selected external links for this article about Skeleton:

Elephants anatomy on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant#Anatomy_and_morphology

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