A cool video on mouse anatomy (for those with strong stomachs)

by AnonONIagent Wed 04 Jan 2017, 10:54 pm

Warning: graphic thumbnail:

I found a pretty cool video of a mouse dissection on YouTube yesterday, and I thought I should share it here. Of course, it being a dissection video, I would discourage anyone with a weak stomach from watching, but if you're brave enough, you might learn some cool things about how our little critters work on the inside! I've hidden the video in a spoiler tag above, as the thumbnail is fairly graphic.

Some cool things I learned:

The front paws of a mouse are actually called "hands".
A mouse's right lung is actually significantly larger than its left lung and has four lobes, while the left lung only has a single lobe.
A mouse's ribcage actually expands and contracts as it breathes.

by Unicorn Wed 01 Feb 2017, 10:10 pm

Wow, fascinating! A little sad for Test Mousie but definitely interesting to see how everything fit together (never knew that about the lung lobes, neat!). How weird that I wouldn't have felt sad if it was a person getting dissected... then again I'd have known said person donated their body to science and didn't have to get unwittingly gassed in the prime of life just to make a dissection video, so maybe not that weird. Undecided

Re: the rib cage expanding and contracting- all mammal rib cages (including yours!) do that, though the extent to which they can do so depends on species. Whales and other diving mammals have a special hinge on their ribs to allow them to collapse during deep dives and accommodate the increasing pressure of the surrounding water while keeping the lungs protected. When a constrictor snake like a python kills a prey animal, that is the actual mechanism by which they are able to suffocate them- they squeeze a little tighter on each exhale, until at last the ribs are unable to expand enough to allow inhalation.

(I didn't bother filling out a lot of my profile yet but you will notice that I did mention being a professional nerd LOL)

by scaredymouse Fri 03 Feb 2017, 3:41 am

I once had to dissect a cat in an anatomy class. As an animal lover, and person who keeps cats as pets, that was pretty difficult. However, once i got over the shock of it...it was pretty neat. The cats were euthanized anyway, might as well help train future medical professionals.

by Unicorn Fri 03 Feb 2017, 9:16 pm

Neat, Scaredymouse! My mother (who is an RN) had to take that same anatomy class. She said it was quite challenging and involved memorizing a lot of nerves and vessels, and they often had to take the cats away from the lab with them for study-- they got, she said, a lot of weird looks, haha!

by scaredymouse Fri 03 Feb 2017, 9:36 pm

I'm a nurse, too. The sweet little kitty taught me a lot and I will forever be grateful for her sacrifice. I'll tell you though, when i saw that on the syllabus, I didn't think i was going to be able to do it. But that class was required for my degree. So I could either quit or suck it up. We also worked on human cadavers in that class and that didn't bother me nearly as much as the kitty.

I have often though about why I would be bothered by an animal but not a person. And I have to agree that it comes down to consent. People give consent, but animals do not. Anyhow, such is science.

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A cool video on mouse anatomy (for those with strong stomachs)

A cool video on mouse anatomy (for those with strong stomachs)

Re: A cool video on mouse anatomy (for those with strong stomachs)

Re: A cool video on mouse anatomy (for those with strong stomachs)

Re: A cool video on mouse anatomy (for those with strong stomachs)

Re: A cool video on mouse anatomy (for those with strong stomachs)

Re: A cool video on mouse anatomy (for those with strong stomachs)