the.com/vertebra
A single bone that politely refuses to let your spinal cord become spaghetti.
means One of the small interlocking bones that stack to form your spine, each surrounding and protecting a section of the spinal cord.
from Straight from Latin vertebra, meaning a joint or something that turns, built on the verb vertere, "to turn" — the same root that gives us "vertigo," "reverse," and "versus." The bone was named for the way the spine bends and pivots, so a vertebra is quite literally a "turning point."
- count
- Humans have 33, but adults fuse down to 24
- giraffe trick
- Their necks have the same seven as yours
- name origin
- Latin for to turn, since they pivot
- first one
- The atlas vertebra holds up your whole skull
- snake flex
- Some snakes pack over 400 of them
atlas — the first cervical vertebra (c1) that supports the skull in all vertebrates
axis — the second cervical vertebra (c2) with the odontoid process that allows head rotation
lumbar vertebra l4 — the fourth lumbar vertebra where most disc herniations occur in humans