COMPARATIVE MUSCULAR ANATOMY LABORATORY

CHICKENS AND HUMANS

Purpose: Become familiar with major muscle anatomy using a chicken carcass as a hands-on-
example (and a human muscle mannequin if available) and diagrams of the musculature of
humans and chickens for comparative purposes. Encourage the students to locate these muscles
on their own chests, arms and legs and relate their function to their activities.

Fresh unfrozen broiler chicken carcasses: Obtain from a local grocery store. These will weigh
from 2.5 to 3.5 lb and should cost $2.00 to $4.00 each. Carcasses on the smaller end of this
range are cheaper and may be easier to dissect. One bird for every two students will work well.
Carcasses should be purchased only a day or two prior to the lab and kept refrigerated. Fresh
carcasses may be contaminated with Salmonella and/or Campylobacter which can cause diarrhea
if ingested without cooking. Therefore, hands should be kept away from the mouth during the
dissection and washed well with antibacterial soap immediately after. All surfaces or materials
contacted by parts or wet with juices from the chicken should either be disposed of appropriately
or washed thoroughly with antibacterial soap. Rubber gloves may also be provided.

Other materials need: Medium sized dissection scissors, rubber gloves (optional), antibacterial
soap, dissection trays, blunt probes, butcher paper or paper towels.

Set up: Unwrap the chicken carcass. Place it on it’s back on butcher paper or paper towels in a
dissection tray. Orient the tray so the bird’s drumsticks are pointing toward you in the posture of
the bird shown in diagram 1. Unlike the bird depicted in diagrams 1 and 3, your bird will have a
large opening in the abdominal area where the viscera and vent were removed. It will also have
no head, neck, shanks or feet and will have skin covering it, which will hide most of the muscles.
Use the diagrams specified in each section to locate the indicated muscles.

1. The chicken’s breast, your chest: Begin your dissection by removing the skin from the bird’s
breast. This easily done by slitting it along the midline with the scissors from the caudal tip of the
keel (protruding process of the sternum), beginning just cranial to the abdominal opening and
proceeding to the cranial end of the breast, where the neck was removed. Then peel off the skin
laterally with your fingers to the base of each wing and leg.
A. Pectoralis major: See diagrams 1 and 2. These are the large superficial breast
muscles of the bird which run from either side of the keel through the shoulder to the
humerus. They pull the wing ventrally, powering flight. In humans this is the muscle
used in the bench press.
B. Pectoralis minor: See diagrams 1 and 2. Make an incision through the P. major
(about 0.5 inches deep) along one side of the length of the keel. Reflect the cut end
of P. major laterally. The P minor is directly under it and runs in parallel to it. The P.
minor has a long tendon on it’s distal end that runs through the shoulder joint and
attaches to the dorsal side of the humerus. It lifts the wing dorsally, which is the
recovery stroke of the wing in flight. In humans this muscle pulls the shoulder down
and forward.

2. The chicken’s and your upper back: Place the bird on it’s breast with the base of it’s neck
pointing towards you. Remove the skin from the upper back by slitting along the backbone
caudally from the base of the neck to the middle of the back. Then peel off the skin laterally to the
base of each wing and around to the breast on each side. Cut the skin from the caudal end of the
incision to the middle of the back around each of the birds sides, just in front of the legs, to the
abdominal opening. The skin on the front half of the bird should now only be attached to the
wings.
A. Trapezius: See diagrams 3 and 4. These muscles run perpendicular from the
backbone to the shoulder of the bird and pull the shoulder back. In humans they are
split in two parts. The part running up the neck shrugs the shoulders while the part
running across the back pulls the shoulder back.
B. Latissimus dorsi: See diagrams 3 and 4. These muscles are directly caudal to the
trapeziuses on the bird’s and the human’s back. They run from the spine into the
wing or arm pit and attach to the caudal side of the humerus. In both species they
pull the wing or arm caudally.

3. The chickens first wing segment or drumette, your upper arm: Place the bird on it’s back.
Extend the wing. Carefully slit skin on the ventral side of the wing from the “wing pit” to the elbow.
Peel the skin completely off both sides of the wing down to the elbow.
A. Deltoid: See diagrams 2, 3 and 4. This is the muscle on the center top of the
shoulder of both the bird and the human. It helps to raise the upper arm or wing.
B. Biceps brachii: See diagrams 1 and 5. This is the muscle on the cranial side of the
upper wing or arm in birds and humans. It flexes (bends) the wing or arm. In humans
this is the muscle used in doing curls.
C. Triceps humeralis: See diagrams 1, 3 and 6. This is the muscle on the caudal side
of the upper wing or arm in birds and humans. It extends (straightens) the wing or
arm. In humans this is the muscle used in doing reverse curls.

4. The chickens second wing segment, mid-joint or flat, your forearm: Place the bird on it’s
back. Extend the wing. Carefully slit the skin on the ventral side of the wing from the elbow to the
wrist. Peel the skin off the ventral side of the lower wing down to the wrist.
A. Flexor carpi ulnaris: See diagrams 1, 5 and 6. This is the largest muscle on the
(caudal) side of the lower wing away from the alula (the bird’s thumb). It runs from
the back of the elbow to the side of the hand away from the thumb (the “pinky
finger” side of the hand on humans). It flexes the hand. In humans this is a primary
muscle used in doing wrist curls.
B. Brachioradialis: See diagrams 1 and 5. This is the largest muscle on the (cranial)
side of the lower wing closest to the alula. It runs from the elbow to the thumb side of the
hand. It pulls the hand back. In humans this is a primary muscle used in doing reverse
wrist curls.

5. The chicken’s and your thigh: Place the bird on it’s back. Spread the legs apart. Slit the skin
on the inside of the leg all the way from the abdominal opening to the hock (distal end of the
drumstick). Peel the skin off around the thigh and then around and down the drumstick.
A. Sartorius: See diagrams 1, 3 and 7. This muscle runs down the front edge of the
thigh from the ilium (cranial edge of synsacrum or pelvis) to the knee in birds. It runs
across the front of the thigh in humans. It flexes the thigh and allows crossing of the legs.
 B. Iliotibialis (birds) or Tensor fasciae latae, Gluteus maximus and Iliotibial tract
(humans): See diagrams 3, 7 and 8. This muscle group covers the whole lateral side
of the thigh in birds. In humans it is generally specified as it’s three parts and runs
from the dorsal and lateral sides of the pelvis to the lateral side of the knee. It
extends the thigh and flexes the leg.
C. Biceps femoris: See diagrams 1, 3 and 8. This muscle lies just medial to the caudal
section of the iliotibialis in the bird. Along with the semimembranosus and
semitendinosus it makes up the hamstring group which are the primary upper leg
muscle powering running. It flexes the leg. This is the muscle used in doing leg
curls in humans.
D. Semimembranosus: See diagrams 1 and 8. This muscle is just caudal and medial
to the Biceps femoris and defines the caudal edge of the thigh in the bird. It extends
the thigh.
E. Semitendinosus: See diagrams 1, 3 and 8. This muscle is just anterior and medial
to the semimebranosus on the inside of the thigh. It extends the thigh.
F. Quadriceps femoris (birds) or Vastus lateralis, intermedius and medialis; and Rectus
femoris (humans): See diagrams 1 and 7. This muscle lies on the inside of the thigh
just caudal to the sartorius in the bird. It is a group of four muscles, generally known
as the “quadriceps”, which make up the bulk of the front of the thigh in humans. It
flexes the thigh and extends the lower leg. This is the muscle group used in doing
leg extensions in humans.

5. The chicken’s drumstick, your calf: Directions for removing the skin in #4 above.
A. Gastrocnemius: See diagrams 1, 3, 7 and 8. This is the primary muscle of the
dorsal (or posterior) and medial sides of the drumstick. It has two distinct heads in
both birds and humans. Both of these heads are attached to the Achilles tendon that
runs around the hock in birds or to the heel in humans. It extends the foot and flexes
the lower leg. It is the primary lower leg muscle used in standing on your toes.
B. Peroneus longus: See diagrams 1, 3 and 7. This is the primary superficial muscle
on the lateral side of the drumstick in birds. It is smaller and runs up the lateral side
of the lower leg in humans. It extends the foot
C. Tibialis anterior: See diagrams 1 and 7. This muscle is larger than and directly
under the Peroneus longus in birds. In humans it run along the lateral side of the shin
bone (tibia) on the very front of the lower leg. This is the muscle that causes pain
in the disorder known as “shin splints”. It flexes the foot.

Please address questions, comments, suggestions and corrections to Roger Lien of Auburn
University’s Poultry Science Department who can be reached at rlien@acesag.auburn.edu or 334-
844-2609