Redirect 3.5% of your income tax to support us!

The interactive dog atlas · Skeleton · Thorax

Sternum sternum

The sternum is the bone on the bottom line of the chest, between the two rows of ribs. It is made of eight segments joined by cartilage.

Open in the interactive atlas Guide: Skeleton Worksheet

Educational material, not a diagnostic tool. Written by the Mantrailing România team from veterinary sources we read. Updated 14.11.2026.

Dog in left lateral view — exterior, muscles, skeleton and organs Vector study after the Ellenberger, Baum and Dittrich plates: a standing dog, head to the left, deep chest and digitigrade limbs. The four layers use the same contour: exterior with body regions, superficial muscles, skeleton and organs.
  1. Sternum
  2. Ribs
Sternum on the atlas drawing, "Skeleton" layer, with the neighbouring structures. Left lateral view, after the Ellenberger, Baum and Dittrich plates.

Where it is

On the bottom line of the thorax, between the two rows of ribs.

System
Axial skeleton
Region
Thorax

What it is and what it does

The sternum is the bone on the bottom line of the chest. In the dog it is made of eight sternebrae, bony segments joined by cartilage, which remain separate throughout life. The front end, the manubrium, can be felt at the forechest; the rear end, the xiphoid process, sits at the start of the abdomen.

Worth remembering

The front end can be felt at the forechest; the rear end sits at the start of the abdomen.

Names

  • Also called: breastbone.
  • Latin term: sternum.
  • In Romanian: Sternul (Romanian page).

Guides it appears in

From the same region: Thorax

All structures, in the atlas · Flashcards: skeleton