Snakes need lots of bones so that they can be both strong and flexible. They have a special skull (more on this later!) and they have a very long spine, made up of hundreds of vertebrae (the bones that make up our backbone). They also have hundreds of ribs, almost the whole way down their body, to protect their organs.

Do a snake has a backbone?

Though very flexible,snakes have many vertebrae (small bones that form the backbone).

Do snakes have a back?

Backbone. A long body means that a snake has more bones in its back. Humans have 33 bones in their spine—snakes have between 180 and 400, depending upon the species. The spine can bend slightly where each bone (called a vertebra) connects with another, so a long back with many bones is very flexible.