How is collagen derived?

[juno]

Not really looking for a super technical explanation, just want to understand how it works. Thanks!

[hoodedclawjen]

i don't really understand if you want to know what its made of, how it is got out of dead animals or processed, or how it came to exist....? maybe i'm being a bit special today (very likely).

not being hugely scientifically knowledgable, i'll give answering a shot, but if i'm wrong or unhelpful, at least i'll have bounced your post a bit!

its part of the conective tissues of vertebrates (animals with backbones- so people too). i'm pretty sure that its a bit like like stiff strong ropes when its in tendons (the stuff that joins muscle to bone), to allow us to do pushing and pulling and moving about- but still hold ourselves together, and more like a spiderweb (i keep imagining it to be like lycra!), when its in skin, to enable the skin to do plenty of stretching and moving. it seems that plants also have collagen too, but theirs is different somehow (yeah, told you i wasn't very scientifically minded). i'm also pretty sure that its removed chemically.

hopefully someone else will be able to explain it much better using short words and easily understandable terms really soon :)

[juno]

I meant to say how it is taken out of animals and processed. But thank you for your answer, I did learn something new as well!