Chicken Dissection Analysis

For the Chicken Dissection lab, my group and I got a full, uncooked chicken from Foster Farms at Safeway. We then were expected to take pictures of all major muscles underlined after dissecting the chicken. Each of

the pictures I post below will be captioned with the major muscle and the characteristics of that muscle.

1. What I learned from this lab is that chickens are very similar to humans in their muscular structure. However some differences my group and I noticed was that chickens have bigger pectorals due to the breeders breeding chickens to eat, not look good. Most/all chickens that humans get from grocery stores are bread to be eaten. This means that the farmers don't care about how the chickens look, but how big and muscular they are.

A) Muscles, bones, and tendons each have a major role in movement for chickens and even humans. Muscles help support the chicken and each specific muscle has a certain job. For example the deltoid muscle abducts, flexes and extends the arm and this is what helps the chicken flap its wings. Another example of an important muscle for the chicken is the Gluteus Maximus which extends and rotates the thigh laterally and chickens. Next tendons help move the wings up and down helping in flight and vertical movement. Tendons rely on muscles which rely on bones because they all connect to eachother. Muscles help initiate movement and with being attached to bones by the tendons, the wings are being pushed back and fourth. The bones in the wings consist of the humeras, ulna, and the radius which all connect to the elbow joint. This helps the wing move up and down. Other important muscles in the chicken such as in its legs are the Peroneus longus which extends the foot and allows the chicken to walk/run.

B) Some physical and functional differences in the tendon of the insertion when compared to the origin are the tendons are a shiny white small band and these are at the ends of muscles. When you pull or tug on one of the tendons, the muscle contracts and moves. The origin of the tendon has no movement, but the insertion allows contraction of the tendon pulling on bones to where ever it is pulled/tugged on.

C) Compare and Contrast Human and Chicken Muscles: Chicken, unlikely, have a lot of the same muscles as humans do. For example, in the chicken wing, they have deltoids, biceps and tricpes to aid them in flight and vertical movement. Sartorius which is the muscle that runs down the front edge of the thigh from the ilium to the knee in birds, but in humans, it runs across the front thigh. Also in a chicken they have the flexor carpi ulnaris which is the largest muscle on the posterior side of the lower wing and it runs from the back elbow to the side of the hand away from the thumb. In humans that muscle is used in doing reverse wrist curls. Finally the Gastrocnemius Is the primary muscle of the dorsal and medial sides of the drumstick. It has two distinct heads in both birds and humans and both are attached to the achilles tendon. It extends the foot and flexes the lower leg. This is primarily to help standing on your toes.