Chicken Muscle Dissection

For this lab we dissected a chicken, focusing primarily on the muscles and joints. I learned that these chickens are breed to have very plump thighs and breasts and that is the reason they are so unproportionate.





This is the Pectoralis Major. It pulls the wing ventrally (flying).





This is the Pectoralis Minor. It pulls the shoulder down and forward.





This is the Trapezius muscle. It pulls the shoulder back.





This is the Latissimus Dorsi. They run from the spine to the wing and their function is to pull the wing.





This is the chicken wing. The muscle pinned is the deltoid, Which raises the wing.






BLUE: This is the Biceps Brachii. It flexes the wing. YELLOW: This is the Triceps Humeralis. It exends the wing.





This is the Flexor Carpi Ulnaris, responsible for flexing the hand.





This is the Brachioradialis, responsible for pulling the hand back.





This is the Sartorius, which flexes the thigh.





This is the Iliotibialis, which extends the thigh and flexes the leg.





This is the Biceps Femoris, which flexes the leg.





This is the Semimembranosus, which extends the thigh.





This is the Semitendinosus, which extends the thigh.





This is the Quadriceps Femoris, which flexes the thigh and extends the lower leg.





This is the Gastrocnemius, which extends the foot and flexes the lower leg.





This is the Peroneus Longus, which extends the foot.





This is the Tibialis Anterior, which flexes the foot.






The human muscles and chicken muscles have many similarities as well as differences. In the upper arm/wing we both have deltoids, biceps brachia, and triceps humeralis. In the back, we both have the trapezius muscle and the latissimus dorsi muscle. However, in birds the iliotibialis muscle is actually three different muscles in humans; tensor fasciae latae, gluteus maximus, and iliotibial tract.