Medical Central: The Skeleton

I read more on the Human Body. This time, the body's primary structure was explored... the Skeleton!

Skeleton
What supports our body, and lets it keep our shape? We pretty much all know the answer... the Skeleton! The Skeleton is our support made of bone. Without it... we'd only be 3/4 of our weight with the Skeleton (since the Skeleton takes up 1/4 of our weight), but we'd also be a goopy (sp?) mass on the floor, and probably wouldn't function well, because the Skeleton supports our organs as well.
But here's some interesting data! The Skeleton takes up 1/4 of our weight! On average, an adult has around 206 bones, though when we're babies, we can have more than 300 bones! Wow! How come this number changes? Well, as we grow, so do our bones. They grow longer and stronger, and some even fuse together!
Just like there are a ton of bones in the body, there are also a bunch of bone types. We all know about the spine. It is made up of 24 vertebrae, of which 7 are in the neck, and there's a primary one that connects to the pelvic (hip) bone. Between each vertebrae is a cartilage (rubbery-like tough substance) disk that absorb shock. We also know of ribs, which protect organs like the heart and lungs. But did you know about the breastbone, which is the ribs' anchor?
And there are a ton of other types... all with different jobs! Their strengths differ too... leg bones, since they hold us up, are the strongest in the body. They are also the longest... the upper bone leg, the femur, is the longest bone in our body! And there are different amounts of bones per job... our lower legs and arms have a double-set of bones, though the lower leg has one bigger bone than the other. And there are some joints that have a whole bunch of bones, like the foot joint, which has 7. And our palm has 5 bones! Talk about more than you would think!
And the bones are sometimes different for each gender. Take the pelvic bone. It supports our abdonmin's (sp?) organs, but there's still a large opening in it. The opening (and the pelvic bone itself) is bigger in females. Why? It's because women give birth to babies! The babies need more room in order to exit the woman's body. So the opening in the pelvic bone is bigger in females than in males.
Bones are hard and sturdy. Why? They're made of calcium, which is a mineral. There are a few other minerals, but calcium's the primary, and most well-known. The calcium comes from blood vessels called oestroplasts (sp?). But we need to help them by getting calcium-rich foods, like certain veggies, into our bodies!