How Many Bones Does a Whale Have?

A whale's skeleton contains a skull, a spine and a rib cage, plus the bones that make up its flippers. The skeleton inside a whale's flipper looks like a version of a human hand; containing a shoulder, upper arm bone, lower arm bones, wrist bones and phalanges, or finger-type bones. Whales also contain several small bones floating down toward their tails. Scientists believe these are vestigial remnants of what were once hind legs.