The neck is the part of the body which connects the head with the shoulders. In a human, the neck is based around seven cervical vertebrae encased by a complex system of muscles which both move the vertebrae and hold them in position. The human stereoscopic vision relies upon a supple neck to allow the head to be rotated, but other than for this purpose humans have less need and reliance upon their neck than most other animals, since humans make primary use of their hands rather than their mouth.
When a humanfoetus is forming, gills are present in the neck, a throw-back to man's earlier evolutionary period as an aquatic mammal. By the time of birth the gills have disappeared, but rarely a gill remains either as a cyst or as an opening at the side of the neck. These anomalies are usually corrected with surgery. Research Neck
Abbreviations
Medicine
Research Neck