Skeleton

The skeleton is a hostile mob that was introduced to the game in Survival Test and remained in all later versions of the game. Skeletons are fairly fast-paced enemies that will shoot arrows at the player at a decent speed, making them very dangerous enemies. Like Zombies, skeletons only spawn in dark areas, such as unlit areas on the surface at night, or in unlit caves. If the sun is at a 15 degree angle or greater on land, they will be lit on fire and take burn damage until death.

Skeletons can hit other mobs with their arrows. If they hit another hostile mob it will cause both of them to ignore the player and start fighting each other until one of them dies.

Skeletons also have a 1% chance to spawn mounted on spiders. Since the Halloween Update, skeletons now hold a bow in their hands.

History
In Survival Test, Skeletons are spawned randomly in new Survival maps and follow players when approached, much like Zombies. They appear to fire arrows at a faster and more random rate and upon death, will shoot out 5-6 arrows around themselves. Arrows fired by skeletons at that time could be picked up and used by players. They take 5 hits to kill and can wear NPC armour, although the armour does not give them any additional hit points.

Drops
Survival Test:
 * Arrows are shot in all directions upon death. These can be picked up and reused.
 * 120 points

Alpha:
 * 0-2 arrows

Beta:
 * 0-3 bones
 * 0-2 arrows

Trivia

 * Skeletons have the same face as zombies, but with a mouth and a different colour.
 * If a skeleton kills a creeper, the creeper will drop a record.