page_title: Skeleton
section_title: Skeletons in popular culture
hierarchical_section_title: Skeleton / Skeletons in culture / Skeletons in popular culture
context_page_description: A skeleton is the hard structure that protects the internal organs of a living thing. Skeletons can be inside the body or outside the body. In mammals, which include humans, the skeleton is made of bones. All the bones, when they are joined together, make the "skeletal system" of a body. The skeletal system or "skeleton" is under the skin, the muscle and the tissue of the body. The skeleton supports the skin, muscle and tissue, and all the organs that are inside the body. The skeleton protects important internal organs like the brain, heart and lungs. If humans did not have a skeleton then the body would be flat as the skeleton gives the body its frame.
  Creatures that have skeletons inside their bodies are mammals, birds, reptiles and fish. A skeleton that is on the inside is called an endoskeleton.
  Some creatures, called arthropods, have skeletons outside their bodies. These are insects, arachnids, and crustaceans. These creatures all have skeletons made of hard plates or shells. This kind of skeleton is called an exoskeleton.
context_section_description: Skeletons, particularly living skeletons, have often been used in horror stories and comedies.
  There are stories where skeletons rise from the dead. Things that come back to life are called undead. In these stories, most skeletons are controlled by a person who brings them back to life. These people are called necromancers. A necromancer uses magic to make the skeleton move and act upon his/her will.
caption: Animated skeletons from La Danse Macabre by Hans Holbein the Younger (1538)
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