Shoulder

Brachium

Antebrachium

Facial and Masticatory Muscles

Thorax and Heart

Brain

Body Wall

Hip and Thigh

Shank and Foot

Digestive System

Urinary and Reproductive Systems

Hip and Tail

Sources of Specimens Dissected in Spring 2004

Beaver: Obtained from Fish and Wildlife's Animal Damage Control. Beavers are common in North Carolina, and in many areas they have no natural predators. Fish and Wildlife humanely traps (kills) them to prevent damage and keep the population healthy. We are allowed to obtain specimens from them under the provision of a North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Possession and Salvage Permit issued to Anne Weil. This specimen was preserved in the BAA embalming lab.

As an aside for anyone seeking to embalm a beaver, the 2-inch-thick salivary gland that wraps the neck ventrally makes it very difficult to find the carotid artery.

Cat: Triple-injected with latex, purchased from Ward's Scientific. The venous injection was less than perfect, and a large amount of blue latex filled the posterior abdominal cavity.

Opossums: The female opossum was obtained from a lab at Duke University. It was a dam in the breeding colony, and had produced several litters of young before dying of old age. The male opossum was also obtained from the breeding colony after being euthanized following agonistic behavior. These specimens were preserved in the BAA embalming lab.

Pig: The fetal pig was double-injected with latex and purchased from Ward's Scientific.

Rabbit: Purchased from Ward's Scientific. We were not happy with the condition of this specimen. We ordered a female specimen and received a specimen marked "female" that was in fact male. It appears to have been preserved for a long time before being shipped to us, and the muscle was extremely brittle.

Rat: Double-injected with latex, purchased from Ward's Scientific. We were not happy with the condition of this specimen. The arterial injection had clearly failed, leaving a large clot of pink latex at the tail but nowhere else. Also, although the animal was a white lab rat, it appeared to have been killed in a snap trap which destroyed the skull, brain, and muscles of the dorsal neck and shoulder so that none of these structures could be dissected.

Squirrel: The squirrel fell from an electric wire and apparently died after breaking its neck. It was collected by Weil under the provisions of the Possession and Salvage Permit described above.