The shapes of cervical (C1–C7) and upper thoracic (T1, T2) vertebrae from the rat and the grey-headed
flying fox have been analysed by Fourier analysis to investigate the types of variation present and to try to
isolate bones according to position along the vertebral column and species. It was found that the T2
vertebrae of the rat are very different from all others in the study, that C2 and C6 vertebrae are very
similar and that the remaining vertebrae split according to species.