The three functions of the skeleton are support, protection, and movement. Most land animals would sag from their own weight if they had no skeleton to support them. Also, many animals have hard skeletons to protect soft tissue. And skeletons aid in movement by giving muscles something firm to work against. Describe the roles of nerves, muscles, and bones in producing movement or locomotion.
Movement is based on the contraction of muscles.
The bones of the vertebrate skeleton act as levers when the muscles attached to them contract. Draw a diagram of the human elbow joint including cartilage, synovial fluid, tendons, ligaments, named bones, and named antagonistic muscles. Look on pages 1038 and 1039. Outline the functions of the above named structures of the human elbow joint. Cartilage is retained as flexible support in certain location, such as the nose, the ears, the rings that reinforce the windpipe, the discs that act as cushions between our vertebrae, and the caps on the ends of some bones.