Oh
Hidden inside every one of us is a structure essential to life yet when glimpsed it can fill us with deep fear
the skill
As varied in shape and size as all the creatures across the face of the earth
Fish
Birds
Amphibians and reptiles
and
Mammals all have what we commonly think of as a skeleton an internal frame of bones on which the soft body
hangs the endoskeleton
The skeleton supports the body anchors the muscles and forms a hard shield for the vital organs it permits movement
feeding
creation life itself an
Elephant's thigh bone is a hundred times bigger than a voles yet both like mole and monkey
Hedgehog and horse share the same design of bones
The spine rigid yet able to bend dramatically supports the entire body from the limbs
Which give thrust for movement to the cage of ribs protecting the heart and lung to the skull?
Casing for the brain and the vital senses it's a design which includes what is to us the most interesting skeleton of all
our own
The human skeleton begins life with over 300 bones which slowly fuse into the
206 bones of the adult man or woman a
body that can grow to almost nine feet so tall that an ordinary table is at knee height or
Remain so stunted it could ride a spaniel as a horse and with a skull which guards the only brain capable of studying itself
The skeleton foundation of the living body
And image of its death it's a cause for mockery
As Winston Churchill said of a rather gaunt rival I've seen better-looking faces on a pirate flag
The skull of the human skeleton is a symbol of the human body
the skull and crossbones emblem of danger from pirate flags to poison bottles
But occasionally this set of rattling bones is an invitation to the carnival to come and laugh at death a
symbol of freedom from earthly cares
and
Birds enjoy the freedom of the skies precisely because of the way their bones are made. They're almost hollow
Some even contain air sacs as extensions of the lungs
light as a feather almost
Every creature on earth reveals its style of movement in its skeleton
The enormous thrust needed to help a bird take off and fly comes from its chest a
Breastbone with a huge keel to anchor the powerful wing muscles
In land animals movement comes from the rear the hips and pelvis connected to the spine
Transmit the thrust from the hind legs through the entire body. This is true whether the action is running at great speed
Leaping across rivers
Bounding over long distances or just dealing with an inconvenience
Yet what about fish which have no legs or wings?
Here afflicted the tail pushes the water back driving the fish forward and since in water they carry no weight
Fish bones are light and sometimes they're not bones at all
Sharks, rays and dogfish have cartilage instead flexible but hard
For animals which do have hind legs the tools on the end of them can have a multitude of uses
They can kick out as weapons
Or kick water like paddles
They can grip like pincers
They can use their legs to push the water back
They can grip like pincers hook a fish clean out of water
Or in the case of the ibex find footholds on almost vertical rock
They can be flat shoes that will carry the animal at great speed
Or as with the caribou divide into two halves that splay out and spread the weight like snowshoes
Some animals can stand on their hind limbs if only they can stand on their hind legs
They can use their legs to push the water back and forth
Or use their legs to push the water back and forth
Some animals can stand on their hind limbs if only for a few moments
For humans this posture is a way of life
We have a spine originally designed for an animal that traveled on all fours
By standing upright our spine has modified to an s-shape
and the shin, the largest and strongest bones in the body.
Powerful and resilient.
Moving on the hind legs alone requires a highly tuned sense of balance
and makes possible a whole new range of movement.
Movement begins at the hip, a classic ball and socket joint combining strength and mobility.
Further down, the knee acts as a hinge, allowing the lower part of the leg to move forwards and backwards.
And at the bottom, the ankle and the heel tilt the foot downwards for thrust against the ground.
Hips, knees, ankles work in perfect harmony.
Moved by muscles and controlled by the brain.
Though at times it does help to have someone pulling the strings.
The skeleton has taught us almost everything we know of the evolution of life on earth.
For the skeleton is the body's most enduring element and its permanent record.
Sinking after death to the bottom of river, lake, sea or swamp to be transformed over millions of years into rock.
Fossils, the only clues we have of our early ancestors.
From ammonite to dinosaur, from fish to mammoth.
To the primitive humanoids and so to ourselves.
In all air breathing animals, the lungs need strong protection yet enough freedom to expand.
The ribs, a flexible cage with joints on the front at the breast bone and at the back anchored on the body's central pillar, the spine.
A column made up of a row of bones and a column of bones, a column of bones and a column of bones.
The spine, a column of bones and a column of bones.
A column made up of bones and a column of bones, a column of bones and a column of bones.
The vertebrae from nine in a frog to 400 in some snakes.
The distance from shoulders to head can be some distance.
Each vertebra can move only a small amount in relation to the next one.
But over the whole length the movements add up to great flexibility.
Far more common than a long neck is the extension of the spine in the other direction, the tail, used by many creatures for balance, support, an extra limb,
or to just flick away flies.
And in evolving from a horizontal support to a vertical column on two legs, the human spine has lost none of its flexibility, at least not in the young and very fit.
Bone itself can be pliable.
Whale bone has been used for centuries, most notably in corsets, tightening women's waists into tiny circles, sometimes no bigger than a saucer.
Light, certainly, but its lack of elasticity caused circulation problems, fainting fits, even fractures, and occasionally it wasn't just the wearer who collapsed from exhaustion.
Bone is a remarkable material, active living tissue with nerves and blood vessels, and a center honeycombed with holes that reduce weight.
Some bones have marrow which produces blood cells, and all bones store minerals for the body.
Indeed, without minerals, bones can bend like rubber.
And when a bone is broken, it has the extraordinary ability to mend itself, although sometimes it does need a little help.
But there is another kind of skeleton, not made of bone and not on the inside of the body.
The vast majority of animals have an external suit of armor which surrounds and protects the soft, boneless body, the exoskeleton.
Some exoskeletons have even changed the very shape of the land.
Coral reefs and islands are created by billions of tiny marine polyps living together in communities.
Each animal makes its own chalky exoskeleton, and as it dies, the skeleton remains, fusing with others to form a growing mass of coral.
But the most common form of underwater skeleton is also the most effective, the shell, the simplest shield, and a powerful protector.
The limpet sticks to a surface with the strength of superglue and hides itself in a shell almost as tough as the rock itself.
The giant clam's three-foot-wide shell is the largest in the sea and can close like an impenetrable door.
People have always been fascinated by the beauty of the shell and have used this simple skeleton for an extraordinary variety of ornament and decoration.
The crab, like lobsters, shrimp, and other crustaceans, has a softer shell and joints covered in tough skin.
And those with shells not strong enough to protect them have to hedge their bets.
Hermit crabs haul themselves into any abandoned shell they can find for double protection.
As they outgrow their adopted home, they must find a larger one to move into.
Occasionally, the new shell is already occupied and the crab must fight to evict the sitting tenant.
Water reduces shell weight so that these creatures can grow larger than those on land, but their shells are rigid and cannot expand.
In order to grow, they have to shed the old skeleton.
The crab finds a safe place to hide, sometimes literally under the protection of its mate.
Until the new skin hardens, it will be highly vulnerable.
The old skeleton splits down the abdomen and the crab crawls out backwards, leaving the shell behind.
It is this sense of regeneration and growth which has made the shell into a symbol of birth and renewal.
Renaissance art expressed this in Venus, a rising newborn from the shell of a scallop.
For deep within the shell there is a sense of power and eternity and always the sound of the sea.
Land animals with exoskeletons also need to shed their casing to grow.
Here the building material is chitin, hard, flexible and highly adaptable.
Some creatures can bend enough to perform surprising feats of self-protection, curling and uncurling by stretching their dorsal segments.
The most heavily armored mammal of all, the armadillo, can do the same, although its armor isn't an exoskeleton but toughened hide.
Other animals have even more external protection.
Turtles have endoskeletons but with a bony outer shell.
They enjoy the best of both worlds plus enormous strength.
The giant tortoise has two bone sections, top and bottom, with the spine fused to the inside of the top dome.
As much as six feet long, it's an almost perfect fortress.
All skeletons cover the most vital body parts and survival depends on the strength of the covering.
Yet however strong the shell may be, survival isn't guaranteed.
The thrush beats a snail against the stone anvil until the shell breaks.
It is not only the shell which needs to be strong, the bird's skull has to withstand these jarring impacts.
The woodpecker has taken this to extremes.
With a tremendously strong skull and beak, it hammers through the bark of a tree to find insects and it can be heard three miles away.
Yet there are skulls which take far more powerful blows without flinching.
The skull of a musk ox is reinforced by shock-absorbent bone.
Which is fortunate, since each of these animals weighs nearly half a ton and could smash straight through the brick wall of a house.
The skull reveals more about an animal than any other part.
Weight, size, shape and position of the organs tell us how well the creature sees and hears, what it hunts and how it survives.
The skull is a blueprint of lifestyle.
It is perhaps because the skull is essential for survival that people have put it to so many uses.
Cultural, practical and superstitious.
Ceremonial drums have been made from the skulls of the vanquished warriors of rival tribes.
Just as the Northman's custom of drinking from their enemy's skulls has led to the Scandinavian drinker's greeting, skull.
The skull traditionally harbors the soul.
So the holy Tibetan lamas drink from ceremonial skull cups, a symbol of consuming another's mind.
Many 19th century doctors believed in phrenology, the so-called science which taught that a person's character could be read from the shape of their skull.
Each area governing a part of the personality.
Queen Victoria had the skull shapes of all the royal children analyzed.
Even today, people may respond to odd behavior by exclaiming, you need your head examined.
And some do need their heads examined.
Despite its many attributes, the skull is not invincible.
A sudden blow to the jaw can shake the brain in its casing, resulting in a knockout.
But no part of the skull reveals as much about lifestyle as the jaws and teeth.
From vegetation-eating animals with jaws that move up and down and sideways.
To the rodent's large sharp front teeth for gnawing.
And the strong thick jaws of the lion with a huge muscle that runs from the front to the back of the skull, giving it the most powerful bite of all the animals.
Yet the strength of some birds' beaks is just as awesome.
The scarlet macaw can crack open rocks to get at vital mineral salts.
The most unusual jaws belong to the snake, with joints that unhinge and spread to an opening up to eight times the size of the snake's head.
That's equivalent to a man swallowing a German shepherd dog whole.
The snake's muscles are powerful enough to crush the skull of its prey.
The skull is the body's strongest bone structure, protecting the organs of sight, smell, taste and hearing.
Guarding the vital entry of food and oxygen and encasing the most complex control center ever known.
The eyeballs and the air channel are both well shielded by the bones of the face.
While the highly adaptable jawbone helps the 32 teeth chew their way through half a ton of meat and plants each year.
But to the human mind, the sight of a skull does represent a threat.
No part of the body is so full of mystery.
Our instant repulsion when coming upon such a clear vision of death is linked to the instinctive urge for survival.
Only the elephant is likewise fascinated by and afraid of its own bones.
Perhaps not surprising since these creatures have been systematically slaughtered and their skulls desecrated for one special part, the tusk.
Made of ivory, these highly modified teeth serve both as tools and weapons and not only in elephants.
The walrus uses its tusks to dig out food and pull itself along to spear the hull of a boat in anger or to drag itself on board by hooking its tusks over the sides.
The narwhal has only two teeth.
In the male, one of them grows into a fearsome nine foot tusk, almost as long as the animal itself.
The male Barbarossa pig has four tusks, two of which actually grow up through the roof of its mouth.
Ivory is the most widely used skeleton material adapted to every imaginable ornament and artifact.
And other specialized bones have caught the imagination of humans, antlers, emblems of aggression, power and supremacy.
Antlers have another more subtle purpose.
They help to control body temperature, radiating excess heat to keep the animal cool.
Skeletons in their many forms are all around us, yet they still terrify us.
Like the skeleton in the closet placed there by an evil husband who forced his unfaithful wife to kiss the skull of her former lover every night.
In many cultures, the human skeleton has become a powerful symbol, an omen.
The mere sight of a skeleton is a vivid reminder of our own mortality.
In the fortune telling tarot deck, the most feared card is death.
The skeleton is the monster conjured up to frighten enemies.
The leader of the dance of death.
The grim reaper, the dreaded hunter of souls.
Yet these images in art have themselves been created by a skeletal part.
The hand, or forelimb, is more elaborate and refined in humans than in any other animal.
From the front fin of the earliest fish, it has evolved into the widest possible range of implements.
From flippers, grippers, and paddles.
To paws, pincers, and hooks.
And even to the 13 foot wingspan of the albatross that carries it all around the world in three months.
The closely related moles and bats have forelimbs which have taken opposite paths.
One digging into the earth as the other lifts it skyward.
That first fin has developed into the human arm and hand, the most versatile and sophisticated instrument on earth.
A series of multipurpose connected joints ending in a set of fingers,
enabling us to perform a greater range of tasks than any mechanical tool.
The hand that has passed down to us knowledge, a record and understanding of ourselves,
that has painted, molded, and celebrated life and death.
Every year the Mexican people shrug off the traditional fear of death and its image.
They rejoice, mock, and embrace it as a part of life itself.
The day of the dead, tribute to the departed, to the past, and to life.
And this joyous celebration transmits to the world the skeleton's ultimate message,
that death comes all too soon, so drink deeply of the cup of life while it is still full.
The Eye-Witness Museum
The Eye-Witness Museum, created by combining traditional filmmaking techniques with state-of-the-art graphics,
stripping away the mysteries of nature and science to reveal the essence of each subject,
bringing the world into sharp focus.
The Making of Eye-Witness
The distinct style of the Eye-Witness books is the basis for each of the programmes.
Each half-hour episode is based on a book title.
The Eye-Witness book's visual style gives the programme-makers a starting point and a challenge.
The challenge of transferring the clarity and super-realism into moving images and sound.
Now let's take a look behind the scenes at the making of skeleton.
To bring the human skeleton to life, we needed an exceptional opening shot.
We were inspired by a Victorian illustration, a pastoral scene which, on closer inspection,
reveals itself to form the shape of a skull.
We decided to create this optical illusion in three dimensions.
In order for the illusion to work, great attention had to be paid to the details of the set.
A vital element was the model, who sat for hours while objects around her were moved millimetre by millimetre.
After 12 hours of building, we were ready to shoot.
The final shot had to match exactly the computer-generated skull that had been on monitors in the studio during the build.
After this amount of preparation, everyone was nervous as we prepared the camera track.
During the take, we knew we had the shot, it had worked perfectly.
The actual filming took less than five minutes.
A perfect introduction to our hero, Smedley the Skeleton.
Smedley was created using computer-generated graphics. Within the computer, he could walk and react.
But he needed some real settings to bring him to life.
In the eyewitness studio, we created a skeleton room with everything Smedley could want.
Including a strong hook, which would prove useful during the course of the programme.
Smedley was placed carefully against created backgrounds using computer graphics.
Sometimes he had to do more than just be placed in a set.
The production manager, Pete, opened the door for Smedley to escape from his skeletal room.
With help from the computer operator, Smedley could experience the true wonder of the eyewitness museum.