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Unit 18: Biology Part 1 Page 48 of 60

Activities and Experiments

Lesson 3: Birds & Mammals

Activity: Chicken Dissection

By completing a dissection, you can see firsthand the anatomy of an animal.
Dissecting a roasted chicken (yes, the same kind that you eat) will allow you
to investigate the skin, muscle, and bones of this bird. So, if you’re
interested in seeing what allows a chicken to run, fly, and survive, go out to
the grocery store and grab some chicken!

1. Observe a roasted chicken. Make note of the skin. The skin provides
the chicken with protection, just like it does in human beings.
2. Note: The next steps require a knife and scissors. Be sure to get
parent permission before doing this. Now, with a knike, cut the skin
from the back to the front along the sternum bone, which you should
be able to feel along the top of the chicken.

3. Pull the skin back to expose the muscle (the part you eat).
4. With a fork or with your fingers, remove the muscle. Notice the
amount of muscle present and the fact that it connects to the sternum,
or breastbone. This muscle also attaches to the wing, and provides
the wing with the muscle it needs for flight.
5. Remove a leg from the whole chicken. Cut the skin to expose muscle.
Pull muscle out from the top half of the leg. The single bone you see
is the femur. As you look at the top of the bone, notice the circular
looking structure. This is part of the ball-and-socket joint that
connects the femur and hip.
6. Carefully remove the muscle from the lower half of the leg, exposing

the larger tibia and smaller fibula bones. Also notice that there is
quite a bit of muscle attached to the leg. Remember that chickens run
more than they fly.

Why is this important: By looking at the muscle and bones of the chicken,
you can learn a great deal about the animal. It is clear that both flight and
running are important for chickens. It is also interesting to note the ways in
which chicken anatomy is similar to human anatomy. Both animals have
sternums, a femur, a tibia, and a fibula. If you’d like, you can dissect the

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