Dissection Week Observations:
For my dissection week I looked at the internal and external anatomy of a squid. While dissecting these are the observations I found.
Squid Observations:
Gills are a hot pink color
Squids have three hearts
Their inc sack is located next to their stomach
Eggs sack was full of small yellow semi transparent eggs
Squids are carnivores, they feed mainly on small fish, crabs, shrimp, and other squids. Squids catch their food using camouflage to get up close to their prey. Then they use their tentacles to reach out and grab their prey and pull it towards the squid's beak which is used to rip the prey up into bite sized pieces that the squid can then eat.
The life stages of a squid are very simple, the squid starts out as an egg then begins life as a larvae. From here the squid grows and matures for around 3 to 5 years until it reaches the juvenile stage, then later on will reach full maturity.
Squid Observations:
Gills are a hot pink color
Squids have three hearts
Their inc sack is located next to their stomach
Eggs sack was full of small yellow semi transparent eggs
Squids are carnivores, they feed mainly on small fish, crabs, shrimp, and other squids. Squids catch their food using camouflage to get up close to their prey. Then they use their tentacles to reach out and grab their prey and pull it towards the squid's beak which is used to rip the prey up into bite sized pieces that the squid can then eat.
The life stages of a squid are very simple, the squid starts out as an egg then begins life as a larvae. From here the squid grows and matures for around 3 to 5 years until it reaches the juvenile stage, then later on will reach full maturity.
Observed Dissection: Horseshoe Crab
The dissection I observed was the horseshoe crab. The horseshoe crab has a very unique internal anatomy with a very basic external anatomy.
Observations:
Mouth is in the center of the crab
Gills are at the rear of the crab
4 legs
Front two claws and back two claws are used for food collection
Observations:
Mouth is in the center of the crab
Gills are at the rear of the crab
4 legs
Front two claws and back two claws are used for food collection
Domestication Project:
Question 1: What did you learn in the domestication unit?
Throughout this unit I have learned about every aspect of genetics. We have worked on understanding heredity, how diseases are passed on, dominance, codominance, incomplete dominance and how to correctly test and experiment. Heredity was our stepping stones to understanding genetics. Heredity contained the most basic knowledge needed like who had what chromosomes, how each person has 23 pairs and 46 chromatids. We then moved on to learning how certain traits are dominant over others using tools like a punnet square. After learning about simple dominance we moved on to the more complex types such as codominance which is when two dominant traits don't mix but are both visible while incomplete dominance is when the two dominant traits mix. One of the most important things that we learned throughout this unit was how to properly set up an experiment. I learned how to seperate my dependent and independent variables and what to test to get the results I was after.
Question 2: What was your project about?
My project was testing how dog breed affected play and aggression. I was trying to discover whether dogs of the same breed would prefer to play with each other over other breeds that were much bigger or smaller. I also wanted to test whether this would affect there aggression. If the dogs would be more or less aggressive towards their own breed. I picked this project because I have wondered what causes some dogs to be more aggressive to others. I wasn't sure whether it was caused by shear size or if breed played a factor.
Question 3: How did you collect your information?
To collect my information I went to the dog park two different times. I took two dogs of drastically different breed to the dog park, I took a Beagle-Basset mix and a German Shepherd-Saint Bernard mix. I chose these dogs because I knew they had both been raised the same and were on the complete opposite sides of the spectrum. I recorded three interactions each of our test dogs had with others measuring time of play, and the dog's level of aggression on a scale of 1 to 10 depending on different interactions such as growling and raised hair all the way to biting.
Question 4: What were your results?
My results were very surprising to me. From my experiments I can conclude that dogs do prefer others of the same breed and ability as their own. This was most significant in our German Shepherd-Saint Bernard test. Our test dog prefered the other German Shepherd more than any other dog at the park and was least aggressive towards it. With our second test dog we ran into the same conclusion she enjoyed the dogs that were of similar ability to her and was less aggressive to the dogs of similar ability.
Question 5: Any additional questions?
I enjoyed this unit and my experiment has sparked some further interest. Now I am wondering how I could use my information to help people make good choices about who their dog would play well with to eliminate aggression at areas like the dog park.
Throughout this unit I have learned about every aspect of genetics. We have worked on understanding heredity, how diseases are passed on, dominance, codominance, incomplete dominance and how to correctly test and experiment. Heredity was our stepping stones to understanding genetics. Heredity contained the most basic knowledge needed like who had what chromosomes, how each person has 23 pairs and 46 chromatids. We then moved on to learning how certain traits are dominant over others using tools like a punnet square. After learning about simple dominance we moved on to the more complex types such as codominance which is when two dominant traits don't mix but are both visible while incomplete dominance is when the two dominant traits mix. One of the most important things that we learned throughout this unit was how to properly set up an experiment. I learned how to seperate my dependent and independent variables and what to test to get the results I was after.
Question 2: What was your project about?
My project was testing how dog breed affected play and aggression. I was trying to discover whether dogs of the same breed would prefer to play with each other over other breeds that were much bigger or smaller. I also wanted to test whether this would affect there aggression. If the dogs would be more or less aggressive towards their own breed. I picked this project because I have wondered what causes some dogs to be more aggressive to others. I wasn't sure whether it was caused by shear size or if breed played a factor.
Question 3: How did you collect your information?
To collect my information I went to the dog park two different times. I took two dogs of drastically different breed to the dog park, I took a Beagle-Basset mix and a German Shepherd-Saint Bernard mix. I chose these dogs because I knew they had both been raised the same and were on the complete opposite sides of the spectrum. I recorded three interactions each of our test dogs had with others measuring time of play, and the dog's level of aggression on a scale of 1 to 10 depending on different interactions such as growling and raised hair all the way to biting.
Question 4: What were your results?
My results were very surprising to me. From my experiments I can conclude that dogs do prefer others of the same breed and ability as their own. This was most significant in our German Shepherd-Saint Bernard test. Our test dog prefered the other German Shepherd more than any other dog at the park and was least aggressive towards it. With our second test dog we ran into the same conclusion she enjoyed the dogs that were of similar ability to her and was less aggressive to the dogs of similar ability.
Question 5: Any additional questions?
I enjoyed this unit and my experiment has sparked some further interest. Now I am wondering how I could use my information to help people make good choices about who their dog would play well with to eliminate aggression at areas like the dog park.