During this project I dissected a squid and observed an octopus dissection. It was really interesting to see the differences between the two. These two creatures are often mistaken for each other and it was fascinating to see how their anatomies compare.
Squid Dissection
What I learned:
Squids have three hearts, two smaller ones that pump blood into the gills and a larger one called the systemic heart that supplies blood to the rest of the squid's body.
Squid external anatomy consists of a head, a mantle, two tentacles and eight legs.
Squids have a pen inside of their mantle which disperses ink from the ink sack into the water around it.
Octopus Dissection
What I learned:
Octopuses have eight tentacles which lead up to a beak.
Octopuses are very similar to squids having two hearts.
Octopuses have a skull that surrounds their brain and eyes.
Squids and octopuses are essentially the same if not for the beak, skull and poison gland that the octopus consists of.
Domestication Project
The domestication project was a project where we sought to understand how and why animals are domesticated. In this project we learned a lot about how we as humans domesticate animals to fit our needs. I picked my project because I was interested in how we perceive dogs versus how the dogs actually behave. To gather my data I went to the humane society and held out my hand to different dog breeds to see how they would react to this motion. The most surprising thing I found was that pit bulls were the nicest dogs despite what a lot of people say about them. I would like to see what other misconceptions there are about other breeds of dogs other than the breeds I studied here.