Brooklyn O’Brien
Learning Log entry #17
March 22, 2018
Time spent: 3 hours Total time spent: 30 hours
Mentor Signature:
Today, I began dissecting the Fetal pig in my Human Anatomy and Physiology class.
This log will cover labs 1-4 including the External Anatomy, Skeletal System, Digestive System,
and Cardiovascular System lab. Through these first four labs I learned a lot about each system
and I actually got to see the systems individually. This connects to my project because I am
learning about the anatomy of a domestic animal, one of my original goals throughout this
project.
First, I did the external anatomy lab. This consisted of viewing and identifying all of the
pig’s external structures. These structures consisted of the ears, mouth, tongue, hoof, ankle,
shoulder, tail, elbow, snout, anus, and genitalia. Through this lab, I learned how to identify a
female and a male; my pig was female, so I learned to identify the papillae. After identifying
these structures, I then observed and learned a bit more about them; shape, color, and function.
This lab was pretty simple and a good starter.
After external, the second lab I did was the skeletal system. For this lab, we did not
actually dissect the pig as that would butcher it and make it difficult to view the other systems.
Instead, we used the dissection manual as a guide to do this lab. I first identified the bones and
their locations, and then I made a diagram and labeled all of them. After that, I went through the
manual and learned the importance of each bone and its function on the pig. I then filled out the
lab. In this lab I learned about all the major bones of the pig and their functions.
After studying the skeletal system, I moved on to do the digestive system. This was the
first lab that I actually had to dissect the pig, meaning cut into it and make incisions. First, I cut
down the pig’s throat and down the entire stomach and into the genital area. I identified all of the
important organs such as the stomach, the small and large intestine, the esophagus, the colon, etc.
After identifying these structures, I went on to diagram them and find their function, which I
already had a pretty good idea of, but going into depth helped me understand them more. A few
internal digestive structures of the fetal pig:
After the digestive system, I dissected the cardiovascular system. This one was probably
the most interesting. I had to cut into the heart and identify all of the internal structures. This was
hard because all of the chambers were filled with latex, and the structures were also very small.
After identifying all of the structures, I researched their functions and filled the lab out. I
identified the aorta, the pulmonary trunk, and several chambers. It was very cool to see the heart
up close like that.
Overall, today I learned many new things and had many new findings, especially
through what I saw and observed in the labs. I learned all about both the internal and external
anatomy of a domestic animal. Throughout my labs, nothing really confused me. I will use this
experience to reach my goal by using the things I have just learned about the anatomy of
animals. As of now, I do not need help with anything and don’t have any logistical problems to
solve. At this point, I am working with my mentor to get more hours at the vet and learn and
understand more about the care of animals, I don’t have any questions for him currently.
