Introduction to Practical Anatomy

Question 1

What 7 ways can you use to identify different cadaveric specimens?

Answer 1

Size of specimen, general appearance, shape, skin thickness, colour of tissues, colour of fat, evidence of fetal remnants.

Question 2

How can the general appearance and shape of a specimen help to discover what species it is from?

Answer 2

Presence and type of fur, shape of the feet, presence and shape of tail.

Question 3

How does skin thickness differ between animals?

Answer 3

in general larger animals have thicker skin

Question 4

Why might the tissues of a specimen differ in colour?

Answer 4

Fresh tissue that is unpreserved tends to be more red in colour due to the presence of blood. Fixed (preserved) specimens are more bleached in colour.

Question 5

What may you look for when seeing if there are any fetal remnants in the specimen in order to tell its age?

Answer 5

umbilical stump, hole in the middle wall of the heart.

Question 6

How can the colour of fat differ between cows, sheep, pigs and horses?

Answer 6

Cows and sheep have fat that is white in colour, pigs and horses have yellow coloured fat.

Question 7

Why is there a difference in the colour of fat between species?

Answer 7

Due to their diet.

Question 8

What does it mean when a specimen is isolated?

Answer 8

Removed from the animal

Question 9

What does it mean if a specimen is in situ?

Answer 9

remains within the animal

Question 10

How would you recognise bone in a specimen?

Answer 10

hard and yellow/white in appearence

Question 11

What circumstances can cause bone to become softer when it is a specimen?

Answer 11

Formalin can soften bone and make it more bendy

Question 12

What is the function of tendons?

Answer 12

Join muscle to bone

Question 13

What is the function of ligaments?

Answer 13

join bone to bone and limit movement in a particular direction.

Question 14

What is the function of a muscle?

Answer 14

to move body parts in relation to each other

Question 15

How would a muscle look as a fresh specimen and as a fixed?

Answer 15

fresh would be red due to the presence of blood, fixed in formalin would be brown or grey.

Question 16

Describe an artery

Answer 16

thick walled, smooth muscle, has a lumen

Question 17

What is the function of an artery?

Answer 17

to carry blood away from the heart

Question 18

Describe a vein

Answer 18

Thinner than an artery and larger in diameter

Question 19

How would a vein appear in a specimen?

Answer 19

Blue due to congealed blood, or transparent. Very fragile

Question 20

How would nerves appear on a specimen?

Answer 20

no lumen, often bundled together. Thin ‘strings’

Question 21

How can nerves sometimes be prepared in a specimen?

Answer 21

sometimes particular nerves are coloured white so that they stand out.

Question 22

What is the cranium?

Answer 22

part of the skull that houses the brain, towards the back of the skull

Question 23

How can the type of teeth tell you what sort of animal skull you are studying?

Answer 23

Pointed/sharp teeth at the front of the mouth with ‘shearing’ teeth at the back come from carnivores. flatter teeth with grinding surfaces come from herbivores. A mixture of the two would suggest an omnivore.

Question 24

What can the structure of the facial skeleton tell us about the animal it belongs to?

Answer 24

shows size of face in relation to cranium, also the position of the teeth/jaw can indicate the breed. e.g undershot jaw in a boxer.

Question 25

What 4 ways can specimens be presented?

Answer 25

fixed (formulin), unfixed (fresh), plastinated, corrosion casting

Question 26

What do fixed specimens look like?

Answer 26

yellow/grey in colour no fresh blood present

Question 27

What does a fresh specimen look like?

Answer 27

colourful, lots of blood present

Question 28

How does plastination work?

Answer 28

body is prevented from decaying and through various processes has fat and water removed and replaced with silicone. It is then positioned before being hardened with gas