Two years into an Arctic expedition, they were forced to abandon ship a thousand miles north of Siberia. The Best Nonfiction Books of 2014 William OâConnor December 14, 2014 Going to the library was like a treasure hunt, an expedition.
The vertebral column, also known as the backbone or spine, is part of the axial skeleton. The vertebral column is the defining characteristic of a vertebrate, in which the notochord (a flexible rod of uniform composition) found in all chordates has been replaced by a segmented series of bonesâvertebrae separated by intervertebral discs.
These regions are called the cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, sacrum and coccyx. There are seven cervical vertebrae, twelve thoracic vertebrae and five lumbar vertebrae. The number of vertebrae in a region can vary but overall the number remains the same.