You don’t need to look too far if you are the tin man. The anatomy classes have been finishing up the section on heart structure and function by dissecting hearts from several animals. Thanks to donations from local hunters, they were able to dissect deer hearts that were collected during rifle season in November. This allowed the anatomy students the opportunity to dissect cow, pig, deer, and cat hearts. Dissections are an incredibly useful tool in anatomy- models and pictures are great, but there is nothing like getting to see how the heart muscles, cordae tendinae, AV valves, semilunar valves really all fit together. The deer hearts were amazing – students could see how cardiac muscle really feels and cuts. Since a large section of class is going into the medical field, this gives them a head start on college and the amount of dissections that they will encounter in college anatomy classes.
Pictured- Ben Avila and Mr. Zarate observe structures on the donated lungs and heart from a deer.
