This work examined the mechanical properties of single bovine trabeculae and cortical bone tissue experimentally. In particular, microdamage and local strains were assessed for bovine bone tissue. A three-point bending experimental setup was designed capable of measuring local strains at the surface of such small specimens, using the digital image correlation technique. Microdamage formation and propagation were detected using the bone whitening effect, an optical non-invasive technique. This technique enabled to follow the progression of local strains and microdamage in real-time from which local strains at microdamage initiation and failure could be derived. This technique was used to investigate three fundamental aspects of bone mechanics. The first study examined the strain rate sensitivity of single bovine trabeculae. No linear relationship was observed between the strain rate and the Young’s modulus, the amount of microdamage, the maximum tensile strain at failure and at microdamage initiation. The second study compared the mechanical behaviour of single bovine trabeculae and similarly sized cortical bone samples. Cortical bone tissue exhibited significantly lower maximum strains and less accumulated damage at failure. However, no significant difference was detected for the maximum strain at microdamage initiation. Finally, the anisotropy of bovine cortical bone tissue was investigated. No significant difference was found between the Young’s modulus, the amount of microdamage and failure strains of longitudinal and tangential bone samples. However, these parameters were significantly lower for the radial samples. For strains at whitening onset, no significant difference was seen for the longitudinal and radial groups, whereas the tangential values were significantly greater. The insights gained from this work enhanced our understanding of the damage properties of bovine bone at the microstructural level. Future work is required to investigate the relevance of the above findings to human bone tissue.