Question

How many bones are in the axial skeleton?

Answer 1

Hint: The bones of the human skeleton can be divided into two groups. The appendicular skeleton includes all the bones that form the shoulder and upper limbs and the pelvic girdles and lower limbs whereas the axial skeleton includes all the bones along the body’s long axis.

Complete answer:
The axial skeleton consists of 80 bones in total. It includes the bones that form the skull, laryngeal skeleton, vertebral column, and thoracic cage. These bones are distributed along the main axis of the body.
The skull consists of eight cranial bones, fourteen facial bones, and seven associated bones that form the six auditory ossicles and the hyoid bone. Eight cranial bones are occipital bone, parietal bones, temporal bones, frontal bone, sphenoid, and ethmoid. This helps protect the brain. The fourteen bones of the facial skeleton from the entrances of the respiratory as well as the digestive tracts. The three bones of the inner ear and the laryngeal skeleton also form part of the skull.
There are twenty-five bones in the thoracic region. The thoracic cage is formed by twenty-four ribs and one sternum which protects the internal organs and gives attachment to muscles involved in respiration and upper limb movement.
The vertebral column consists of 24 vertebrae including seven cervical vertebrae, twelve thoracic vertebrae, and five lumbar vertebrae, the sacrum, and the coccyx. It is commonly called the spine and connects the base of the skull to the pelvis. It helps to maintain the posture of the body.

Note: Thus we can say that the axial skeleton forming the central axis of the body consists of 80 bones and connects the body to the pelvis giving a place for the attachment of the appendicular skeleton.