Hi stevesuetyler-ga ,
Ahh, cats. I love them. I've been owned by several cats in my life,
currently by one "Mr. KittyCat", a sleek and beautiful black
panther-in-miniature, aka neighborhood stray, who adopted me and my
husband one day a couple of years ago, while were were innocently out
upon a stroll near our home. It took him a few months to impress upon
us that we were the chosen ones, but he eventually prevailed, and he
now presides over our household with the dignity and grace only a cat
can muster.
I have also in the past, I must confess, been custodian of a cat
carcass, courtesy of the local university, requiring me to study and
memorize its unique and graceful skeletal structure, which is indeed a
superlative work of art. However, unfortunately I don't recall the
exact number of bones it had.
So then to your question. The general consensus is that the skeleton
of a domestic cat contains more bones than a human, 230-290 in all, as
compared to a mere 206 for us inferior humans.
Here are some references for verification:
Cat Facts:
Either scroll down about 1/3 of the way down the page, or else use
Ctrl-F to search for "bones," and find the fact that "A cat has more
bones than a human; humans have 206, the cat has 230."
http://oddrob.com/catFacts.asp
Here's another site that concurs with that number:
http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/trivia.htm
On the other hand, this site says the average number of cat bones is
somewhere between 230 and 250, depending on how many toes s/he has and
the length of his/her tail, with the average being 244.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/accent/content/shared/living/pets/scoop/scoop_061206.html
Cat Trivia:
And here's a site that contradicts both numbers, stating instead that
cats have 290 bones in their bodies, which is considerably more than
the above source, although without any sources for that figures. But
just for completeness' sake, here's the link:
http://www.pawsawhile.netfirms.com/trivia.htm
Here's a pretty good image of a cat skeleton:
http://www.pawsonline.info/skeletal.htm
I hope this information fully answers your question. If anything isn't
clear, please let me know in a "Request for Clarification" before
rating and closing your question, as I want to be sure you're happy
with the information provided.
Best wishes,
Byrd-ga
Search strategy:
I searched Google using the following search terms:
[feline skeletal anatomy OR bones]
[cat bones "how many"]
[anatomy domestic cat feline bones OR "number of bones" OR "how many bones"] |
