Post-dissection Reflective Writing

Upon finishing four poultry dissection labs this semester, I have realized that my assumptions were true before doing a dissection. I had assumed the dissection would have no effect on me because I grew up gutting and cleaning wild animals very often. Sure enough, I did not feel sick or nauseous during dissection at all. To my surprise, I haven’t seen or heard of anybody else in the class getting sick during a dissection either. I knew going into the labs that it would be interesting, especially the first time, but I seem to find myself more amused than I thought I would during the dissection of the birds. I have learned far more than I thought possible about the anatomy and physiology of chickens. It amazes me that after just four dissections I can open up a bird rather quickly and identify most of the internal organs, glands, and tissues. Not only can I now identify internal structures, but I am able to name external features, including different feather types also. I obviously know that I do not know everything there is to know about the anatomy and physiology of a bird, but I know that I am way further advanced than I was going into the first poultry physiology dissection lab this semester. Even after four intensive and intrusive dissections of these young chickens, it is as though there is still way more to learn every time and I find myself even more interested than before. It is so awesome to see the information from lecture in class and the hands-on experience in lab tie together and make more sense. For me, the hands-on helps me to understand things more, but it is also nice to see it on paper and be able to refer back to it after the lab has concluded. The anatomy and physiology of living things is far more complex that we, as humans, could have ever imagined when we started investigating into the biological world. I know that it has taken lots and lots of research and development to get to where we are today, as far as knowledge of the birds’ anatomy and physiology, but I also know there is far more that is still to be discovered and learned. It has appeared to me that this could possibly be a career choice option for me in the future. During my summer internship with Aviagen this summer, I hope to find more options in the poultry industry that will open for me and to learn more about this field of avian study as well. I am very glad that I am getting this opportunity to see first-hand how the avian species functions and what composition of things make that possible.