SkullThere are no upper incisor teeth. The frontal bones make about half its length and the whole roof of the braincase.
Mandible (lower jaw)Its two halves never fuse completely. The front of it carries eight lower incisor teeth.
Cervical vertebrae (neck)Seven. They are much shorter than a horse's. The first two are the atlas and the axis.
Thoracic vertebraeThirteen, one for each pair of ribs. Their long spines make the withers. Older books call them dorsal vertebrae.
Lumbar vertebrae (loin)Six, and much longer than a horse's.
RibsThirteen pairs. The first eight pairs reach the sternum. The last five do not. A horse has eighteen pairs.
Scapula (shoulder blade)It is more evenly triangular than a horse's. A cow has no collarbone.
HumerusThe single bone of the upper arm. It runs from the shoulder joint to the elbow.
Femur (thigh bone)It fits into the socket of the hip bone above. Below it meets the tibia and the patella.
TibiaMuch like a horse's, but a little shorter. The fibula beside it is reduced to its two ends, so it is not drawn.
Eighteen more bones 18
Horn coreA process of the frontal bone that supports the horn. It is hollow: the frontal sinus runs up into it.
AtlasThe first cervical vertebra. A ring with a broad wing on each side.
AxisThe second cervical vertebra. A peg at its front, the dens, fits into the atlas. In the ox it is short.
SacrumFive vertebrae fused into one bone. It is longer than a horse's, and the hip bones join it.
Coccygeal vertebrae (tail)Usually eighteen to twenty. Also called caudal vertebrae. The first few still have an arch and a spine.
Sternum (breastbone)The cartilages of the first eight pairs of ribs join it.
RadiusShort and broad. The ulna is fused to the back of it.
UlnaIts upper end is the olecranon. The muscles that straighten the elbow attach there. Its shaft is fused to the radius.
Carpus (knee)Six small bones in two rows. It matches the human wrist, not the knee.
Metacarpus (front cannon bone)The third and fourth metacarpal bones fused into one. It still shows a groove down the middle.
DewclawsA cow has four digits on each foot. Two carry the weight; the other two are small vestiges behind the fetlock.
IliumIts outer corner is the tuber coxae. That is the base of the point of the hip.
IschiumIt is large and slopes upward and backward. Its end is the tuber ischii.
Patella (kneecap)Long, narrow and very thick. It slides on the lower end of the femur.
Tarsus (hock)Five pieces in the ox, because some tarsal bones are fused.
Calcaneus (point of the hock)The heel bone, a lever for the muscles that straighten the hock. Older books call it the os calcis or the fibular tarsal bone.
Metatarsus (hind cannon bone)The third and fourth metatarsal bones fused into one.
PhalangesEach of the two main digits has three phalanges. Only one digit shows in a side view.
How this list was compiled: Every bone and every count checked on 2026-09-30 against two public-domain veterinary anatomy texts read in full text on archive.org: (1) Sisson, The Anatomy of the Domestic Animals, 2nd ed., 1914, Skeleton of the Ox (vertebral formula, ribs, horn core, the fused large metacarpal and metatarsal bones, the four digits, the reduced fibula), https://archive.org/details/anatomyofdomesti00siss; (2) Chauveau, The Comparative Anatomy of the Domesticated Animals, 1873 (the same bones under their older names, the ribs of the Ox, the horn-cores, the cannon, the two great digits and the dew claws), https://archive.org/details/comparativeanato00chaurich. The modern name calcaneus is from OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology 2e, section 8.4. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work
How it works
This skeleton of a cow with labeling shows the left side, head to the left. The quiz asks ten large bones first. The other eighteen, from the horn core to the dewclaws, are under Start from.
Read the full guide
Start with ten, then the cow-only bones
The opening round is the skull, the lower jaw, three stretches of backbone, the ribs and four limb bones. Switch to Eighteen more bones for the rest. Several are what set a cow apart from a horse: a horn core on the skull, thirteen pairs of ribs, and a cannon bone made of two bones fused, above two toes and a pair of dewclaws. Stock keepers' names, such as knee and hock, are accepted when you type.
A cow's knee is its carpus, which matches your wrist. The joint that matches your knee is the stifle, where the patella is.
Count the ribs: thirteen pairs means thirteen thoracic vertebrae.
Questions and answers
How many ribs does a cow have?
Thirteen pairs, so twenty-six ribs. The first eight pairs join the sternum through their cartilages and the last five pairs do not. A horse has eighteen pairs.
How many vertebrae does a cow have?
The usual count is seven cervical, thirteen thoracic, six lumbar and five sacral, the last five fused into the sacrum, then eighteen to twenty in the tail.
What is the cannon bone of a cow?
The single long bone between the knee or hock and the fetlock. It is two bones, the third and fourth metacarpals or metatarsals, fused into one, which is why each foot ends in two toes.
What is a horn core?
A bony outgrowth of the frontal bone of the skull, which supports the horn. The core is hollow, because the frontal sinus extends into it.