In the animal kingdom, the skeleton is the structure bearing muscles. With the muscular apparel and the nervous system, it constitutes the musculoskeletal system. The use of the skeleton is both to protect animal's organs and prevent it from being distorted by the Earth's gravity.

The skeleton can be inside or outside the body, directly in touch with environment, it is respectively defined as endoskeleton and exoskeleton. Most of the vertebrates are made of with an endoskeleton, such as Men. The skeleton of vertebrates is composed by bones and cartilages. Human skeleton has 206 bones. Insects or turtles have an exoskeleton which is their carapace.

In addition to its biological role, the skeleton has a symbolic role as well. The image of skeleton is often associated with death, and the personified death is often represented by a skeleton wearing a black cloak and carrying a scythe.

Having a skeleton next to oneself would upset a lot of people and make them feeling uncomfortable, but it appears that some people don't react like everybody. For example, skeletons of a 93 years old woman and her dog where found on a couch in Dallas. Furthermore people might have lived in the place where the skeletons were found without even mentioning their existence.