Last week my class squeamishly dissected another mammal, a Rat, ick. In this dissection we got our rat nicknamed Stewart, who is a placental mammal and closely related to us humans and examined things like the respiratory system. In doing this I realized how closely related we all actually are, even though we don't look the same our ancestors are the same. When I first looked over the rat some dominant feature were apparent like its claws obviously helpful in the rats survival, as well as the fur covering it used to keep the endothermic animal warm. Prior to beginning the dissection we were given a couple of minutes to read through the steps and peer through pictures. However, like always this wasn't enough to prepare us for the horrors that hid beneath the unlucky rats skin. The first day of the dissection was filled with many disgusted screeches, however the second day many of us had to step it up and face the rat and all of its internal structures.
Question
1.) Your hands are easily the best tool in a dissection because, you can simply move around the structures more accurately as well you are able to feel the different organs.
2.) The objective for all the labels was to clearly show examples in an organized way easy for understanding the material in an accurate way.
3.)The rats tail seemed to have a lot less hair making it noticeably different from the rest of the body.
4.) The whiskers or vibrassae are sensory.
the whiskers help the rat sense their surroundings
5.) The rat featured bilateral symmetry meaning that both sides look the same. Ex if you cut the rat in half it would mirror itself.
6.) The circular sphincter takes this shape so it is better capable of covering tubes. Its job is to control the passing of food through these tubes.
8.) The rats liver is vital in filtering wastes from the blood and transforming them into to a form able to be excreted.
9.)The duodenum received its name through its meaning which is twelve finger breadths long or 25Cm.
10.) The appendix is where extra bacteria used to break down tough enzymes found in plants and such.
11.) The membrane is crucial due to the fact it separate layers, and also moistens the surface so there is no tension.
12.) The spleen cleans the blood of dead red blood cells using white blood cells.
13.) The diaphragm is a key component in respiration it helps contract and expand the ribs allowing air to exit and enter the lungs.
14.) The ventrical and atria have a few traits that distunguish them from eachother. The ventricles pumps blood to the body while the atria pumps the blood to the ventricle. The atria is smaller though because its job is simplier.
15.) The left ventricle is larger than the right because its job requires more force as it has to pump blood further at a higher pressure.
16.) The similarities between the male and females reproductive system is they both feature the pituitary gland.
17.) The kidneys change wastes in the blood to urine so they are able to excrete it as well as regulate the balance of water in the body.
18.)The thymus, thyroid and ardenal are part of the respiratory system.
Last Friday my class was lucky enough to dissect some Cephalopoda (Head-foot) from the Mollusks phylum. Sadly I wasn't in attendance for this exciting new learning experience. I'm sad I missed out on this interactive hands on way of learning, as it always helps you grasp the material better, when you actually use it in real situations. However I know my classmates found it to be a phenomenal way of studying the information. Looking over the notes I saw that the class got to see some fascinating parts of the squid, like at one point they got to interact with the beak and see how it works. They also got to take a closer look at the internal organs of the squid helping them better understand their functions. Hopefully next time I will be able to participate in one of these hands on activities!
1.) The squid features 8 shorter arms and, 2 longer tentacles with suckers at the end.
some suckers
2.)The arms and tentacles serve two different purposes for the squid. The shorter arms are great for locomotion, because they are shorter than the tentacles, which grab prey and latch on to surfaces.
A close up of the sucker
4.)The suckers on the tentacles of a squid are a good predatory adaption as they easily grapple prey.
The beak
The squids beak is also good as it rips the prey apart making it easier for digestion.
5.) The soft bodied portion that contains the internal organs called the visceral mass
The also feature bilateral symmetry.
6.) A squid has two gills.
7.) The squids defensive ink sac empties into the water jet and it is a defense mechanism, it distracts the predator so it has time to escape.
8.) The pen provides the squid with support so it has shape making it capable of swimming. Without this vital body structure the squid would be a blob.
9.) I would assume that solid feces would exit through the anus.
Since I was absent I had to use other students photos
Last week our Biology class did our very first dissection on an earthworm, or a lumbricus terrestris. It was a very interesting experience for my partner and I, both being petrified of worms had to tough it out. However some how we did manage to cut through all three of our worms, and scream while doing so. we began by slicing it on its ventral side. We then followed the steps and had to locate and identify different organs like the gizzard in the digestive tract. Overall it was a somewhat useful and scary learning experience that truly changed my attitude towards hands on work teaching me that it can't be taught only by book.
Questions!
1.)The pumping organ found within a earthworm can be called aortic arches or hearts. Also unlike us the worm has five of these pumping organs.
2.) When a worm munches on some soil, the soil would enter its mouth however the pharynx would pull in the food, then it would travel down the esophagus to the crop where it would then be moistened. The moist food would travel to the Gizzard and undergo mechanical digestion basically its ground up. After this the nutrients need to be absorbed the large intestine does this chemically. After this its ready to be excreted through the anus.
3.) Throughout our studies I actually learned that annelids feature well developed nervous systems. The brain its self is called the cerebral ganglion, using ganglia it connects to the ventral nerve cord with runs the worms entire body. A swollen area of nerves that entwines every segment to the brain is commonly known as ganglion they are found at each of the ventral cords segments.
4.) Out of the two organs in the worms excretory system I managed to catch glimpses of the Anus but not the nephridia as I ran out of time.
5.) Well it was simple to figure out the worms eating habits. As it seemed to leak soil every where when we accidently cut the intestine open.
6.) Sadly I didn't spot the setae on the worm which help it move around, by griping its surrounding environment.
7.) In certain worms the gizzard assists in this by churning and grinding the food down further.
8.) The excretory and digestive system are seen past segment 32.
9.)Worms mating can be confusing because the are hermaphrodites so they are able to produce male and female organs. Which is why they both collect sperm from one another and place it in sacs until they reach maturity. A sticky substance is then formed from the citicellium creating a ring with the fertilized eggs.
Thursday, our class ventured to the Vancouver aquarium, we had a fun hands on experience! In the morning we arrived and kicked off our day with a wet lab in which we were able to get up close, and feel many of the aquatic specimens. In this wet lab we encountered the phylum Cnidaria. while we didn't feel the motile Medusa we did touch Polyp types. Luckily they had fairly weak nematocysts and were unable to harm us. The barbed needles made the tentacles feel almost sticky, however once we rubbed our fingers on the base, the cells were tricked into thinking we were apart of it, and wasn't triggered. We also held sea urchins, sea stars and loads of other engrossing aquatic creatures. I know, I personally loved this part of our day, we learned about the various roles and lives of the different marine life. After this we were switched to the experiment part of our marine lab, in this segment we completed experiments on snails. After a brainstorm involving our class, we decided upon attempting to see if snails had a sense of gravity. Quickly, it was made apparent that they did, however needed help to flip over, so they utilized a rock as leverage. After this was finished, we went and had lunch, then were free to explore the depths of the ocean in the aquarium.
1.) The symbiotic relation between sea anemones and clown fish is that the sea anemone keeps the fish safe from predator, while the clown fish provides food for the anemone. The reason the fish isnt stung is, it has similar cells to the anemone, and tricks it into thinking it is apart of the anemone.
2.) The reasons otters like this one clean themselves so often is that they need clean fur to catch airbubbles for insulation.
3.) Prior to the 1900's otters were often hunted so there numbers were very low however they were found in Alaska and California. Once people realized that these majestic creatures would become extinct if we continued to hunt them, so some were bred from Alaska and reintroduced.
4.) Green Anemones were found near the sea otters tank.
5.) Out of all the fantasizing invertebrates I saw my favorite had to be the Water jellyfish. The reason being it used bioluminescence to light up the water and it looked gorgeous.
6.) There are 2 delphinapterus leucas staying in the aquarium or you could say beluga whales.
7.) Apparently there are not potbelly seahorses currently residing in the aquarium however I did see some int interesting spotted seahorses which uses its tail to idly move.
8.) The pacific sea nettle is similar to looks the human nervous system in a way. Its tentacles could possibly be the nerves in the body while its head could be the our head.
9)The starry flounder has a rare adaption, unlike other its fairly flat, and able to swim side ways against the ocean floor slipping past predators the ocean floor. Its coloring also helps camouflage it on the sandy floor
10.) The moon jelly slowly floats through the water by almost contracting its head then releasing. Its method of feeding is similar as it contracts its head pushing water filled with microscopic organisms into its mouth.
11.) One of natures best predators the Pacific Octopus is considered this partially because its fantastic hiding ability. It also uses white suction cups found on its tentacles to grapple prey and stick to things like rocks allotting better camouflage.
12.) Sea lions often hunt in groups and on these excursions they look for fish and squid.
13.) The Caiman is found in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. 14.) The caimans colors most likely help it camouflage in its environment as its a brownish gray-green.
15.) The largest fish in the aquarium is able to grow up to an astounding three feet in length this monster is called the Arapaima.
16.)The red hook sliver dollar feeds off riverside shrubs in the amazon flooded forest.
17.) When people remove a hook in a captured piranhas mouth is when they pose the largest threat.
18.) A fun fact about sharks is that they actually don't have bones only cartilage.
19.) Green Sea Turle,Common Bluestripe Snapper, Blacktip Reef Shark, White Spotted Bamboo shark, Yellowface Angelfish, Stringray, Laced Moray, Redtail Butterfly fish, and the Indo-Pacific Sergeant are all organisms also found in the shark tank.
20.) The Strongylocentrotus Francisconus or giant red sea urchin has spikes surrounding its body to protect it from predators.
however it didn't stop this sea otter from eating it!!!
21.) Acherfish have a a unique hunting style they will actually shoot water out of their mouth and hit bugs making them fall into the water.
22.) The sea turtle in the tropic zone can also be identified as chelania mydas or as "Schoona".
Throughout the last week our science class has been learning about Fungi. So we would learn and understand the material better, our teacher took us on a walk in the park. On this walk we looked for the numerous types of fungi we have learned about. The five phyla are water molds(Oomycota), common molds (Zygomycota), Sac fungi (Ascomycota), club fungi (Basidiomycota) and Imperfect fungi (Deuteromycota). Luckily on our walk we found tons of mushrooms, and other molds just on the trails! Probably because our moist environment is favorable for many molds. We also found several lichens belonging to the different forms foliose (leaf like), Fruticose (shrubby), Crustose (crust like.) Also my partner and I found some captivating leaves with some sort of rust caused by fungi. Though we weren't able to find everything on the fungus hunt we did get to see quite a few intriguing things like the different symbiotic lichens, rusts and shelf mushrooms.
A rust caused by some sort of fungi
Foliose lichen
A Crustose Lichen has made its home on a shady tree base
shelf Fungi growing on wood
some basidiomycota fungi growing
a close up of mushrooms growing on a log
in this picture the hyphae and mycelium weren't visible
