Download Chicken Foot Dissection

Chicken Foot Dissection
Background: The chicken leg has parts that interact and cooperate to allow the
chicken to perform a variety of activities such as walking, hopping, sitting,
and standing. Chickens actually walk on their toes and not on the soles of
their feet as humans do.
In this investigation, the various tissues and structures of the leg of a chicken
will be found and described. Tendons attach muscle to bone. Tendons, which
attach fingers or toes via muscles to upper support bones are very long and can be
easily found. Muscles move in antagonistic (opposing) pairs to move a bone. So for
every movement there should be a pair of tendons. One muscle and tendon to
contract and close the joint, and another tendon and muscle to relax or open the
joint. The major muscles are not located in the feet themselves, for reasons of
space. So the chicken foot has long easy to reach tendons which make the foot
ideal to use as a dissection.
Examine and describe the tough outer layer covering the outside. For example,
are there hairs or feathers present? What is the texture of the layer like? Why?
With scissors, slit the chicken’s skin near the open end on the ventral (bottom)
side all the way down the foot. There should be a bundle of tendons directly in
the mid point.
Pull this silvery mass from under the skin with your
fingers. Holding the mass of tendons, PULL!
Now separate each tendon from the bundle and pull
separately. How many individual tendons are there?
What happens when you pull ONLY ONE tendon?
Now do the same thing to the front of the foot. Slit
the skin and find the tendons. They will not be in a
large mass like the ventral tendons. Grab these
tendons and pull. What happens to the toes? What
happens when you stop pulling these tendons?
Pull each separate tendon like you did with the last
bundle. Are these 2 sets of tendons antagonistic pairs?
Using one of your hands, form a claw with your fingers. Look at the back of your
hand. Do you see hard ‘strings’ leaving the backs of your fingers and going to
your wrists? Can you see or feel a similar set of structures in your palm? Can
you see them in your arm? Encircle your arm about an inch higher than your
wrist. Wiggle your fingers. What do you FEEL?
Remove the skin from the chicken foot using your scalpel and dissecting
scissors. Be careful to not damage the tissue underneath. Look for:
muscles on the foot: bundles of dark pink tissue surrounding the bone
ligaments: whitish tissue between the bones, holding them together
a nerve: a very thin, whitish strand of material with your dissecting needle
a blood vessel: a thin reddish-brown thread of tissue
National Science Learning Centre