Bones are the hard parts inside an animal’s body that make up its skeleton. They provide support, protect internal organs, and help animals move.
bone
/bohn/
noun
Bones come in many shapes and sizes, from the tiny bones in a bat’s wing to the massive leg bones of a sauropod dinosaur. They’re made of living tissue that contains blood vessels and nerves. Bones are strong yet lightweight, which made them perfect for supporting the huge bodies of many dinosaurs.
For paleontologists, bones are treasure troves of information. Fossilized bones can tell us about a dinosaur’s size, how it moved, what it ate, and even how old it was when it died. By studying and comparing bones, scientists can figure out how different dinosaurs were related to each other.
Think of a chicken drumstick. The hard part in the middle is a bone. Now, picture that bone much, much bigger – that’s what a dinosaur leg bone might have been like!
Did you know that some dinosaur bones were hollow? Many theropod dinosaurs, including the ancestors of birds, had air-filled bones. This made their skeletons lighter, which might have helped them move more quickly or even fly!
How big were dinosaur bones? Dinosaur bones varied greatly in size. Some of the smallest dinosaur bones were no bigger than a grain of rice, while the largest sauropod leg bones could be over 6 feet (1.8 meters) long! The size of the bones depended on the size of the dinosaur.
Can scientists tell how old a dinosaur was from its bones? Yes, scientists can estimate a dinosaur’s age by looking at its bones. They do this by examining growth rings inside the bones, similar to tree rings. They can also tell if a dinosaur was fully grown by looking at how fused its bones are.
Do dinosaur bones turn into rock? Over millions of years, dinosaur bones can turn into fossils through a process called permineralization. The original bone is slowly replaced by minerals, turning it into rock. So the “dinosaur bones” we find are actually rock in the shape of the original bones!
