Other animals

Regions of vertebrae in the goat

In other animals the vertebrae take the same regional names except for the coccygeal – in animals with
tails the separate vertebrae are usually called the caudal vertebrae. Because of the different types of
locomotion and support needed between the aquatic and other vertebrates, the vertebrae between
them show the most variation, though basic features are shared. The spinous processes which are
backward extending are directed upwards in animals without an erect stance. These processes can be
very large in the larger animals since they attach to the muscles and ligaments of the body. In the
elephant the vertebrae are connected by tight joints, which limit the backbone's flexibility. Spinous
processes are exaggerated in some animals, such as the extinct Dimetrodon and Spinosaurus, where
they form a sailback or finback.

Vertebrae with saddle-shaped articular surfaces on their bodies, called "heterocoelous", allow vertebrae
to flex both vertically and horizontally while preventing twisting motions. Such vertebrae are found in
the necks of birds and some turtles.[17]

An example of procoelous vertebrae dissected from a rattlesnake.

"Procoelous" vertebrae feature a spherical protrusion extending from the caudal end of the centrum of
one vertebra that fits into a concave socket on the cranial end of the centrum of an adjacent vertebra.
[18] These vertebrae are most often found in reptiles[19][20], but are found in some amphibians such as
frogs.[21] The vertebrae fit together in a ball-and-socket articulation, in which the convex articular
feature of an anterior vertebra acts as the ball to the socket of a caudal vertebra.[19] This type of
connection permits a wide range of motion in most directions, while still protecting the underlying nerve
cord. The central point of rotation is located at the midline of each centrum, and therefore flexion of the
muscle surrounding the vertebral column does not lead to an opening between vertebrae.[21]

In many species, though not in mammals, the cervical vertebrae bear ribs. In many groups, such as
lizards and saurischian dinosaurs, the cervical ribs are large; in birds, they are small and completely
fused to the vertebrae. The transverse processes of mammals are homologous to the cervical ribs of
other amniotes. In the whale the cervical vertebrae are typically fused, an adaptation trading flexibility
for stability during swimming.[22][23] All mammals except manatees and sloths have seven cervical
vertebrae, whatever the length of the neck.[24] This includes seemingly unlikely animals such as the
giraffe, the camel, and the blue whale, for example. Birds usually have more cervical vertebrae with
most having a highly flexible neck consisting of 13–25 vertebrae.
In all mammals, the thoracic vertebrae are connected to ribs and their bodies differ from the other
regional vertebrae due to the presence of facets. Each vertebra has a facet on each side of the vertebral
body, which articulates with the head of a rib. There is also a facet on each of the transverse processes
which articulates with the tubercle of a rib. The number of thoracic vertebrae varies considerably across
the species.[25] Most marsupials have thirteen, but koalas only have eleven.[26] The norm is twelve to
fifteen in mammals, (twelve in the human), though there are from eighteen to twenty in the horse,
tapir, rhinoceros and elephant. In certain sloths there is an extreme number of twenty-five and at the
other end only nine in the cetacean.[27]

There are fewer lumbar vertebrae in chimpanzees and gorillas, which have three in contrast to the five
in the genus Homo. This reduction in number gives an inability of the lumbar spine to lordose but gives
an anatomy that favours vertical climbing, and hanging ability more suited to feeding locations in high-
canopied regions.[28] The bonobo differs by having four lumbar vertebrae.

Caudal vertebrae are the bones that make up the tails of vertebrates.[29] They range in number from a
few to fifty, depending on the length of the animal's tail. In humans and other tailless primates, they are
called the coccygeal vertebrae, number from three to five and are fused into the coccyx.[30]

Additional images

Vertebral arches of three thoracic vertebrae

Costovertebral joints seen from the front

Lower thoracic and upper lumbar vertebrae seen from the side

Cervical vertebrae seen from the back

See also

Limbus vertebra

Functional spinal unit

Pott disease

Scheuermann's disease

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 96 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy
(1918)

McGraw-Hill Science and Technology[full citation needed]

O'Rahilly, Müller, Carpenter & Swenson. "Chapter 39: The vertebral column". Basic Human Anatomy.
www.dartmouth.edu.

Dorland's (2012). Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (32nd ed.). Elsevier Saunders. p. 329. ISBN
978-1-4160-6257-8.

Gdyczynski, C.M.; Manbachi, A.; et al. (2014). "On estimating the directionality distribution in pedicle
trabecular bone from micro-CT images". Journal of Physiological Measurements. 35 (12): 2415–2428.
Bibcode:2014PhyM...35.2415G. doi:10.1088/0967-3334/35/12/2415. PMID 25391037.

Muller-Gerbl, M; et al. (Mar 2008). "The distribution of mineral density in the cervical vertebral
endplates". Eur Spine J. 17 (17(3)): 432–438. doi:10.1007/s00586-008-0601-5. PMC 2270387. PMID
18193299.

Taylor, Tim. "Lumbar Vertebrae". InnerBody. Retrieved May 7, 2017.

Standring, Susan (2008). "Thoracic vertebrae". Gray's Anatomy. p. 746.

Platzer (2004), pp 42–43

Latin costa refers to either a "rib" or "side" of the body. (Diab (1999), p 76)

Tweedie, A. The library of medicine p. 31

Heinz Feneis, Wolfgang Dauber (2000) Pocket Atlas of Human Anatomy: Based on the International
Nomenclature p. 2

Postacchini, Franco (1999) Lumbar Disc Herniation p. 19

Drake et al, Gray's Anatomy for Students, Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier (2010), 2nd edition, chapter 2

Walker, Warren F., Jr. (1987) Functional Anatomy of the Vertebrate San Francisco: Saunders College
Publishing.
Dorland's (2012). Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (32nd ed.). Elsevier Saunders. p. 1003. ISBN
978-1-4160-6257-8.

Cakmak, O; et al. (Sep 2005). "Arcuate foramen its clinical significance". Saudi Med J. 26 (26(9)): 1409–
13. PMID 16155658.