Pre-dissection questions

1. Where do rats live?
2. What do rats eat?
3. Do rats bear live young?
4. List at least 3 ways in which rats are similar to humans.
5. Describe a rat’s foot structure and for what it might be useful.

Procedure

1. Don lab apron or coat, gloves, and eye protection.
2. Lay the specimen on a dissecting tray and observe its external anatomy. If you are working with a double-injected specimen, there may be blue and/or red pigment visible in the 2 areas where skin has been cut away. This coloring is latex that has been injected into the vascular system to allow simplified identification of the specimen’s veins and arteries.
3. Handle the specimen and observe it from all angles.
4. Manipulate your specimen’s limbs and take note of their articulation.
5. Open the mouth and observe the dentition.
6. Try to locate the following structures:
• Head
• Nares
• Ear (pinna)
• Whiskers (vibrissae)
• Incisors
• Eyes, each with remnant of nictitating membrane (plica semilunaris)
• Female structures and openings
• Urethral orifice
• Vagina
• Anus
• Male structures and openings
• Urogenital opening
• Anus
• Scrotum
• Feet
• Claws
• Footpads
7. Return the specimen to storage or proceed with internal dissection as your instructor directs.

Now your students are ready to learn about the rat’s internal anatomy—and our Rat Dissection BioKit® is a great resource to help you teach it to them. The complete kit includes 15 double-injected Carolina’s Perfect Solution® white rats, plus a detailed teacher’s manual with dissection instructions, extension activities, reproducible student sheets, background information, glossary of terms, and dissection questions for discussion.

The Rat Dissection BioKit® is appropriate for middle school and high school students and addresses the following National Science Education Standards: