Minecraft wiki entry for Skeleton, associated text: If alerted to a player's presence, a skeleton can fire arrows backward, occasionally hitting themselves.
Skeletons cannot see the player through glass, fences, or other transparent blocks.
Skeletons and their variants do not know how to use a crossbow, despite the same using method as a bow.
The artificial intelligence of skeletons in Bedrock Edition is a mix of skeleton AI from Java Edition between versions 1.5 and 1.8.9 and the skeletons in Update Aquatic. They shoot faster when they are on land and the target underwater, causing knockback enough to make combat hard. Additionally, they do not strafe left to right, and they shoot more rapidly at closer targets. Skeletons also use ranged attacks on land and switch to melee attacks when sinking underwater.
In Java Edition, 89% of skeletons hold their bow in their right hand and 11% with the left. This reflects estimated handedness percentages in the real world.
If a skeleton has a sword or any other melee item, generally with commands, its AI resembles the wither skeleton's AI.
In Bedrock Edition, skeletons do not animate their bow.
C418 used bamboo wind chime sounds as a base for the skeleton sounds.[4]