Sheep Brain
Dissection
Brenda Mesquita
Biology
12/28/12
Introduction:
A sheep’s brain is just about the size of our hand. Believe it or not, our brain
compared to a sheep brain is a lot alike. Sheep don’t do many things that humans do but our
brains are still similar in many ways. In this lab we will be dissecting a sheep’s brain to find out
comparisons. Also to see how a brain really looks like in person and to better understand the
structures. We will observe it and label the ventral, dorsal, and medial view. We will first
identify and label the dorsal view. Then identify and label the ventral view. Lastly we will slice
the brain in half and also identify and label the medial view.
Materials:
 Sheep brain

Tooth pick with name of structures taped to it

Dissecting tray

Gloves
 Scalpel
Methods:
 Put on a pair of plastic gloves.
 Place the brain on a dissecting tray.
 Observe the dorsal view.
 Label the structures of the dorsal view (left and right hemispheres, frontal lobe, parietal
lobe, temporal lobe, cerebellum, spinal cord, sulcus, and gyrus)
 Turn the brain around in the dissecting tray to be able to see the ventral view.
 Label the structures of the ventral view. (midbrain, pons, medulla, olfactory bulbs, and
optic chiasm)
 Use the scalpel to cut through the corpus callosum in between the two hemispheres,
dorsal view up. Make sure to cut through the brain stem.
 Observe the medial view.
 Label the all the structures of the medial view. (frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe,
thalamus, corpus callosum, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, midbrain, pons, medulla,
cerebellum, gray matter, and white matter)
Analysis:
I accomplished the objective because I wanted to better understand the structures and
where they are in the brain and I got a better understanding when I did the dissection. I was
confused about the pons, midbrain, and medulla oblongata. But, when I did the dissection I got
to actually see where those parts were so I understand it now. The difference between gray
matter and white matter is that gray matter is in the outer part of the brain. The gray matter is
what forms the cerebral cortex. It is made up of dendrites which is a branching structure of a
neuron that receives transmissions from other neurons. The white matter is the inner part of
the brain. It is made up of axons which is a long nerve fiber that transmits information away
from thee cell body. I will explain ten structures and their functions. The cerebellum controls
the movement and the balance of your body. The right hemisphere controls the left side of the
body. The frontal lobe controls your behavior and judgments. The temporal lobe is what helps
you with your hearing and controls your emotions. The parietal lobe has to do with the sense of
touch. The occipital lobe is in charge of vision and recognizing patterns. The hippocampus is for
memory processing. The brain stem and the medulla oblongata both control the breathing,
heartbeat, and blood pressure. The midbrain is part of the body movement.
Sheep and human brains have many similarities but they do have some differences.
Sheep brains obviously have a smaller cerebral cortex then the human brain. The brain stem of
a human brain is vertical but the sheep’s brain stem is horizontal. We are smarter than a sheep
because we have more neurons than sheep and a bigger brain. We are able to do many
different things like speaking, reading, do sports, able to do math, and many other things that
animals can’t.