We have bone and we have cartilage. Now, when the human being is born we have 270 bones. But as the organism grows and eventually develops into an adult the number of bones decreases to 206. And that's because some of these bones basically join together to form individual single bone structures. Now, what exactly is the difference between bone and cartilage? Well, cartilage is a much more flexible type of connective tissue and that's exactly why cartilage is found in those regions of the human body that require a bit more flexibility.