Today I dissected a turtle for my Comparative Animal Physiology and I though some of you might be interested in the pictures from it. I chose not to put this in a regular picture post because I know some people are uncomfortable with this sort of thing. There aren’t many pictures as I obviously had my hands busy but should you be so inclined just hit the read more. This is a dead turtle this is NOT a vivisection.

In response to one of the notes: I’m not quite sure if they can feel it but I will try to find out. I learned that unlike the other animals in the class the turtle had a 3 chambered heart, not 4. Also the turtles lungs were close to the spine its heart, and liver and some intestines covered them and that is what you are able to see, you had to lift and cut out all of those organs in order to find and see the lungs. You can find the lungs of a turtle by following the trachea as the y branch of the trachea connect to the lungs.

I have found the answer!: Turtles shells are covered in Keratin, like our fingernails, and while there are not any nerves on the outside they can feel our touches through the tissue under their shell. If you touch your fingernails you can better understand how a turtle feels when you touch  their shell