Ask Science
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
view the rest of the comments
The whole point of having bones is their rigidity. Animals that don’t require a rigid structure, simply have no bones, chitin, exoskeleton or shell.
As others have pointed out, there are plenty of squishy terrestrial animals, but they don’t have flexible bones or any bones for that matter. Those that do have bones, also have cartilage, and there are many sea creatures that rely almost exclusively on it. However, I can’t think of a single terrestrial animal that would be composed of cartilage to that extent. I guess gravity opposes such ambitions, and weeds out anyone who tries to pull off a build like that.
Thanks to you & @Brokkr@lemmy.world for your replies. Not sure why but this curiosity was lingering in mind so I thought I'd put the question out there in case there might be some really unique example of such an organism.
I guess it'd have to be a very unique environment to drive such an adaptation, which would be fascinating in itself.
Biology is full of strange exceptions. As soon as you think you’ve figured out a rule that applies to something, you’ll find some obscure creature that violates that rule just to piss you off.