Mrs. Toth’s second period advanced biology class recently had the opportunity to dissect a bullfrog. This dissection provided a first-hand experience to us students on the anatomy of creatures—specifically frogs. However this also showed us how organs are connected and work together, which can also be found in human anatomy. In order to see the inside of the frog, though, we had to follow a certain procedure. We, of course, were provided a deceased bullfrog in a container along with necessary tools such as a scalpel, forceps, scissors, and a probe. To begin the dissection, we used the scissors to cut through the angle of the jaw in order to open its mouth and examine the oral cavity. With the interior of the mouth exposed, we were able to locate the tongue, maxillary teeth, vomerine teeth, the glottis, the eye orbits, and the internal nares. From this we moved onto the good stuff. Placing the bullfrog on its dorsal, or back, exposed its belly to us. We used the scissors to cut the frog’s thick skin away from its muscle, and then continued to cut away the muscle to reveal the innards. Immediately we were able to identify our frog as a female, as she had a massive amount of eggs spread amongst her organs. After removing the small black eggs, we cut out the orangish fat surrounding her organs. With the unnecessary pieces removed, we could easily identify the different organs such as the heart, lungs, stomach, liver, intestines, and et cetera. All in all, there was much to be seen inside of the bullfrog, Geraldine as our group named her, and we learned a great deal about anatomy. However, we had our different reasons to find the dissection intriguing and fun.
For me, Cami Groce, biology is one of the most interesting subjects as it pertains to the career path that I want to pursue when I graduate. So, being able to carry out a dissection—something I believe will be recurring in my job choice—is good experience. It allows me to familiarize myself with common tools and procedures used in dissections, which I will most likely use later in life. Dissections also simply fascinate me, and it intrigues me to be able to expose and first-hand see how the inner mechanisms of living creatures work.
Biology is a great subject in my, Clay Leitzel’s, eyes to take, not only because it is fun, but because it could help me out going into the medical field. This will help me because this teaches me some anatomy that animals have in common with humans. Dissections are a great first-hand way to see the anatomy of different animals and see how all the parts work together. I think my favorite part was being able to examine all the guts up close. I also like being able to see what is happening hands-on because this helps me learn so much better and is just plain intriguing.