SkullThe bones of the head. The lower jaw is a separate bone that hinges on it.
MandibleThe lower jaw. It holds the lower teeth and hinges on the skull.
IncisorsLong, curved, chisel-shaped front teeth that grow all through life. A rabbit has a second, small pair just behind the upper ones.
Cervical vertebraeThe seven vertebrae of the neck.
Thoracic vertebraeThe vertebrae of the chest, each joined to a pair of ribs. A rabbit has twelve, sometimes thirteen.
RibsTwelve pairs. The first seven pairs are joined to the sternum.
SternumThe breastbone: a row of six segments along the underside of the chest.
ScapulaThe shoulder blade: a thin, triangular plate with a ridge, the spine, down its outer side.
ClavicleA slender rod that reaches only part of the way from the sternum to the shoulder.
HumerusThe bone of the upper foreleg. Its head fits the shoulder blade, and it meets the radius and ulna at the elbow.
RadiusOne of the two bones of the forearm. It meets the humerus at the elbow and the wrist bones below.
UlnaThe other bone of the forearm. Its olecranon process sticks up behind the elbow.
CarpalsThe nine small bones of the wrist.
MetacarpalsThe five slender bones of the forefoot, between the wrist and the toes.
PhalangesThe bones of the toes: five toes on a forefoot and four on a hind foot.
Lumbar vertebraeThe large vertebrae of the lower back. A rabbit has seven, sometimes six.
SacrumFour vertebrae fused into one bone, which joins the hip bones to the spine.
Caudal vertebraeThe small vertebrae of the tail, about fifteen in a rabbit.
PelvisEach hip bone is three bones, the ilium, ischium and pubis, fused in the adult. It joins the sacrum.
FemurThe thigh bone, from the hip to the knee.
PatellaThe kneecap, a small bone at the front of the knee joint.
TibiaThe larger of the two bones of the lower leg.
FibulaA slender bone beside the tibia. In the rabbit its lower part is fused to the tibia.
TarsalsThe six bones of the ankle. The calcaneus, the heel bone, is one of them.
CalcaneusThe heel bone. Its long process points backward behind the ankle.
MetatarsalsThe four bones of the hind foot, between the ankle and the toes.
Rat 12
SkullThe bony case round the brain, the nose and the inner ear.
MandibleThe lower jaw: two halves joined at the front, each carrying one large incisor.
Cervical vertebraeThe seven vertebrae of the neck, the same number as in the rabbit.
Thoracic vertebraeThe thirteen vertebrae of the chest, each joined to a pair of ribs.
Lumbar vertebraeThe six vertebrae of the lower back, between the ribs and the hips.
RibsThirteen pairs. The first seven pairs are joined to the sternum.
ScapulaThe shoulder blade: a flat, triangular bone with a ridge, the spine, on its outer side.
HumerusThe bone of the upper foreleg, from the shoulder blade to the elbow.
Caudal vertebraeThe vertebrae of the long tail: nearly thirty of them.
PelvisThe two hip bones, each made of an ilium, an ischium and a pubis. They join the sacrum.
FemurThe thigh bone. Its head fits a deep pit in the hip bone.
TibiaThe larger bone of the lower leg, from the knee to the ankle.
How this list was compiled: Every bone name, count and detail line was checked on 2026-09-30, for facts only and with nothing copied. Rabbit: (1) B. A. Bensley, Practical Anatomy of the Rabbit, 3rd edition, 1921, part II, the skeleton, read in the Internet Archive scan at https://archive.org/details/3edpracticalanat00bensuoft; (2) T. J. Parker and W. A. Haswell, A Text-book of Zoology, volume 2, 1910, the rabbit as the example of the mammals, https://archive.org/details/textbookofzoolog02parkrich. Rat: (3) H. R. Hunt, A Laboratory Manual of the Anatomy of the Rat, 1924, the skeletal system, https://archive.org/details/laboratorymanual00hunt; (4) H. H. Donaldson, The Rat: Reference Tables and Data, 1915, the list of bones, https://archive.org/details/ratreferencetabl00donauoft. A name or count that only one of the two sources for an animal gives is left out. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain shapes. Own original schematic drawing; nothing traced or copied. Licence: own work
How it works
This labeled rabbit skeleton shows the rabbit from the left side, inside the outline of its body, with 26 bones named. The labeled rat skeleton after it has 12 of the same bones.
Read the full guide
Rabbit first, then the rat
The rabbit is drawn at rest, head to the left, as a front half and a rear half. Tap a name to read about that bone, or press Quiz me and tap each bone as it is named. The rat follows, with its long tail and twelve of its larger bones.
How the two skeletons differ
Both have seven neck vertebrae. The rabbit has twelve pairs of ribs and the rat thirteen. The rabbit's tail has about fifteen small vertebrae; the rat's has nearly thirty. The rabbit's collar bone is a slender rod that spans only part of the gap between the sternum and the shoulder.
The fibula is easy to miss: in both animals its lower part is joined to the tibia.
Count the ribs to tell the drawings apart: twelve on the rabbit, thirteen on the rat.
Questions and answers
How many vertebrae does a rabbit have?
A rabbit has 7 cervical, 12 thoracic, 7 lumbar and 4 sacral vertebrae, and about 15 in the tail. Some rabbits have 13 thoracic or 6 lumbar vertebrae.
Do rabbits have a collar bone?
Yes, but a small one. The rabbit's clavicle is a slender rod that reaches only part of the way between the sternum and the shoulder.
How is a rat skeleton different from a rabbit skeleton?
The rat has 13 pairs of ribs to the rabbit's 12, six lumbar vertebrae to the rabbit's seven, and a long tail of nearly thirty vertebrae. A rabbit also has a second, small pair of upper incisors behind the first.
How many ribs does a rat have?
Thirteen pairs. The first seven pairs are joined to the sternum and are called true ribs; the other six pairs are false ribs.