Today, we began with an exciting field trip through the anatomy of a rabbit. After previously investigating in the thoracic cavity of the rabbit, we then moved down to the digestive organs and regions of the rabbit. We first carefully cut down the rest of the rabbit, exposing the digestive organs including the liver, small and large intestine, gallbladder, pancreas, stomach, and more. The most interesting thing that we noticed was that the two kidneys were off center. It seemed that the left kidney was slightly lower than the right kidney. However, it seemed that most of the rabbit being dissected also had this consistent in their anatomy. Also, we were able to open the stomach to see what was being digested before the rabbit had perished. We did not expect to see any bones as rabbits are herbivores and we were not surprised to find that there were in fact no bones. However, we did find it surprising how densely packed the stomach was with a green substance. I never expected the stomach to be completely and totally filled with the green, vegetable substance. We then were able to further investigate within the anatomy of the rabbit, by working to expose the spine. We managed to expose the spine, but it was most likely the most difficult part of the investigation. This is because we were exposing the spine from the anterior side of the rabbit, meaning that we had to work through large amounts of muscle, as well as the spinal cord. This made the exposing of the spine the most difficult part of the journey. However, once we did uncover the spine, we were able to find the lumbar vertebrae. This field trip was a very interesting experience in which we were able to completely see and visualize what we had learned about prior to the experience.
Following the field trip of the rabbit, we had the opportunity to formulate a prosthetic appendage to be attached to the wrist using the software program Fusion. We used a power saw to saw the paw off of the rabbit, giving us the opportunity to come up with an idea for a prosthetic appendage to give the rabbit more functions. We used Fusion to create a prosthetic that we would then 3D print to glue and attach to the wrist of the rabbit. Our group decided to create a “fly swatter” appendage in order to give the rabbit the benefit of having higher self-defense techniques. The rabbit could use this appendage to “swat” at predators or competitors for food. While creating the prosthetic in Fusion, we had to take note of the exact measurements of the fused radius and ulna of the rabbit’s wrist, as we had to create a base that would seamlessly fit onto the bones. This experience has allowed us to think outside of the box and put different concepts together in order to create something that would ultimately benefit and expand the functions of a rabbit.
Nice work!!