PRESERVED
SPECIMENS INFORMATION 
We often get
asked "what specimen should we dissect in
our class?"
That is a lot
like asking what type of car you should purchase or what should you have for
lunch. It can vary depending upon many
factors. There is no one correct answer
for all. You need to consider details
like age/level of your students, student's motor skills (ability to use a
scalpel or scissors) what you are teaching, amount of time allowed, and of
course your budget.
Let's start
with what we observe nationwide. We see many
middle schools and junior highs order invertebrates like earthworms, crayfish and
starfish. The upper levels to include
high schools and colleges use vertebrates including frogs & fetal pigs, and
preserved organs to include brains, eyes & hearts for anatomy.
Many biology
classes work their way through the different phyla, class, & order. What better way to reinforce the
characteristics and traits than a hands-on dissection? For example, here are some preserved
specimens/animals for consideration that we have offer:
Vertebrates:
For those
doing anatomy and human body systems, the preserved organs that we offer are an
unbelievable lab experience for hands-on learning. You can select from three mammalian organs:
pig, sheep and cow. While offering most
organs of the body, the organs listed below are very popular:
Brains Sheep brains - 5 different
"configurations" of brains to choose from.
Brains can include the dura mater (the sack around the brain), the
hypophysis, or can be the less expensive sheep brains without these structures
Eyes We offer eyes from all three
animals. The sheep eyes and pig eyes
tend to be about the same size (about 1" diameter). The larger beef eyes (2"+) are great due to
their larger size. The beef eyes tend to
include several muscles - so you can identify what muscles move the eye in
various directions.
Hearts Pig hearts and Sheep hearts. The pig heart tends to be a little larger and
often is less fatty. The sheep hearts
are less expensive. A new item we now
can provide are sheep hearts with long aortas (3-6") - the large artery coming
off the heart.
Kidneys Kidneys are available from sheep, pig
and cows. The sheep kidney is the
smallest and least expensive. The cow /
beef kidney is the largest. The pig kidney
is available in 4 configurations: plain
(preserved only), single injected (a red latex is injected into the arterial
system), double (includes the red latex in the arterial system and blue in the
venous system) or triple injection (adds a yellow latex into the hepatic portal
/ liver system).
