Chicken Wing Dissection

Chicken Wing Dissection
The chicken wing dissection was very helpful in understanding not only the muscular system but also the skeletal system. We looked at both the bone and the muscles of the chicken wing. We noticed many different things that we had been studying in class. In this dissection we studied structure and function of a chicken wing, which is comparable to that of the human arm.
First, we removed the skin of the wing with the tools provided for us. We examined yellowish tissue clumped together beneath the skin. This was fat tissue. The fat tissue was sticky and gross feeling. Under the fat tissue were the muscles. We examined the biceps brachii and the triceps brachii. These are the muscles that bend and straighten the elbow joint.
Next, we located the tendons. The tendons were shiny and white tissues at the ends of the muscles that attached the muscles to the bones. There were five bones in a wing. The bones we identified were the humerus, ulna, radius, shoulder joint, and the elbow joint. We bent and straightened the elbow joint to observe how the bones fit together and examined it to identify the ligaments. We also noticed the veins and how they were all connected; we could push the blood through one vein and it would come out through the other. This dissection helped the class to understand how the muscles, tendons, and ligaments play roles in the wing’s movement.
Although many differences exist between the anatomy of humans and chickens, it is still helpful to observe and compare the different components between them. I enjoyed doing the dissection very much because instead of just learning the muscular and skeletal system from the book we actually learned it hands on. I am a very hands on learner; I do better when I’m not just learning information from a