Anatomy Dissections

We've moved on from Splanchnology to Blood Vessels in Anatomy for the past few weeks which seems more logical but tricky learning where all the blood vessels come from, lead to and the inter species differences.

Group photo around the thoracic limb pre-credit test!

Maxime and I dissecting the hind limb of a goat

Blood Vessels of the Head

This week we have been looking at the arteries and veins which supply the head.

We were warned that it was one of the hard weeks but I thought it was actually really logical and the names made sense according to the parts of the skull we learnt last year

And a view of the aorta and head

Northern Goshawk necropsy; Aspergillosis and Trichomonas

I saw a necropsy of a juvenile wild Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis gentilis) today, which sadly died after being brought into the clinic last week.

He had anklets put on his legs so that he could be perched and fed on the glove but was found collapsed on Sunday afternoon.

The bird died from chronic Aspergillosis seen as spores and large granulomas in the air sacs.
They think the bird had been ill for several weeks as the granulomas were so big and that would coincide with his capture and being brought into the clinic.



He also had secondary Trichomonas gallinae parasites seen in the mouth which were probably elevated due to immunosuppression.

Anatomy of Domestic Birds

In Anatomy this week we learnt about the anatomy of domestic birds; pigeons, chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese.

It was interesting seeing the differences and I knew most of the parts and organs in English but obviously not Latin. 

I guess it helps because I've prepared a lot of dinner chickens and we prepare pigeons for Falconry every day.

We then had chickens to dissect, my group know I like (am obsessed with) chickens so I did most of the dissection...

Diseases of Fish

We had an extra long practical for Diseases of Fish today as we learnt all about the anatomy of fish and did lots of dissections.

I may have been slightly drunk as I had friends visiting from home and we were out until a couple house before the practical.

Anyway, the dissections...

We even had a sting ray which was pretty awesome...

Physiology of Birds

We've just had a class on the Physiology of Birds, starting with a lecture on their anatomy and physiology followed by a practical.

First we took blood, either from the Brachial or Ulnar vein of the wing or the Medial Metatarsal vein which runs on the inner leg just above the hock.

They hold the birds differently over here than we do in the UK, by also restraining wings which I wasn't overly comfortable with but that's how we had to do it - Antonia and I put a tube down her esophagus and syringed a starch solution directly into the chickens crop:

After 20 minutes she was humanely euthanised by the vet technicians and we carried out a full dissection to look at the anatomy and physiology.

Samples were taken from each part of the digestive tract from the esophagus, grop, gizzard all the way through the small intestines to the cloaca; these were put into test tubes and incubated with a solution which changes colour depending on the presence of starch. The same was done with a solution which reacts with glucose so we were able to see exactly where starch is digested and were glucose is present in the digestive system.

I did the dissection and I found it really interesting as I've eviscerated lots of birds before and known what the major organs etc were but I'd not realised where the pancreas was before (in the duodenal loop) or seen the proventriculus just above the gizzard; I also learnt the yellow lining of the gizzard has a name, the koilin.

Anatomy; Muscles of the Thoracic Limb

We've moved on from bones to muscles this week, starting with muscles of the thoracic limb.

In last weeks practical we dissected the legs of a cow and goat and we've just had the credit test on all the muscles, origins, insertions and functions.

 I got a B so really happy with that :)

Next week we're tested on Muscles of the Pelvic Limb!

Poultry Dispatch Course in Wales

I ran a Dispatch, Pluck and Gut course this weekend in Aberystwyth and had a great time.

We ended up with 5 people on the course and then as families arrived later on we had 11 plus us for the BBQ.

The course went well, everyone seemed to enjoy it and feedback has been really good.

We dispatched in Angela's new goat shed and hung the chickens from beams:


Then went into the mock Medieval Tavern for gutting.

We spatchcocked and BBQ'd the chickens and ate them out on the decking

Then when I got home I roasted mine...

...was the best roast chicken ever!!

It sounds corny but you really can taste the difference between homegrown and supermarket chickenl I found it cooked much quicker too.

Really looking forward to the next course on 6th October at Cotswold Chickens now!

Dissection: Mare Reproductive Tract

Last semester we dissected a Mare's reproductive tract, which was interesting because she was on oestrus.
As with all the dissections, we had to write it up but this time we couldn't just use the photos, we had to draw what we saw in the dissections and put them in the assignment ... was actually quite hard to draw them so had to try + trace it, esp in the proper scientific style! Looking at them now I think they look quite good once they were scanned in, didn't think so at the time!

So we started off with the tract, cut away the fat and bits we didn't need and got:

Dissected the vulva and vagina distally to see the interior + the cervix which is a folded smooth muscle with an interior cervical canal down the middle!

Dissected Mare reproductive tract:

 Cervix:

Then, moving proximally (up!) we found the oviducts and the utero-tubal junction + infundibulum:

Then we get to the ovaries, there were 2, one in oestrus and one in anoestrus.

So first the outside of the ovary:

Then a cross section of an ovary in oestrus (reproductively active mare) - you can see the follicles and corpus luteum: