NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Babies have far more cartilage in their skeletons than adults do. According to Dr. Eric Edmonds of Rady Children’s Hospital, most children’s kneecaps begin to ossify-turn from cartilage into bone-between the ages of 2 and 6. This is a slow process that takes many years.

Detailed explanation-2: -This is because babies have more cartilage than bone. New born babies have around 305 bones. A baby’s skeleton is mostly made up of cartilage.As a person grows up, most of this cartilage turns into bone in a process called ossification.By adulthood, the skeleton has just 206 bones.

Detailed explanation-3: -When babies are first born, some of their “bones” are actually made up of a flexible cartilage (a firm tissue softer than bone). As the child grows, some of the cartilage hardens and turns to bone, and some bones fuse together. Your child’s bones won’t stop growing until her late teens or early 20s.

Detailed explanation-4: -The baby skeleton has more bones and cartilages. During development many of these cartilages become bones by the process called ossification and some bones fuse to form a bigger bone reducing the number of bones to 206.

Detailed explanation-5: -So, at birth, many of a baby’s bones are still predominantly made of cartilage (2). For example, cartilage is the firm but flexible material that forms your ear. As we grow, these smaller, softer cartilage bones harden and fuse together, resulting in the 206 bones we have as an adult.