The study of mammalian anatomy in an introductory biology course is often used to illustrate biological principles and is useful to those studying biology for many different reasons. The relevance is obvious if you are planning to study anatomy for a career in a medical field, but the study is equally useful for examining anatomical changes of organisms during evolution, for relating structures to physiology or biochemistry, or for examining factors relevant to conservation biology, just to name a few.

The anatomy of the pig,Sus scrofa, is often selected for study in introductory biology courses for two reasons. First, pig structures are similar enough to human anatomy for the study to be relevant to understanding our own biology, and to be a model organism to apply the biological principles learned in this course. Second, relatively large fetal specimens are readily available from biological supply houses who obtain them from slaughterhouses that have no use for the fetuses from pregnant sows that are being butchered. Thus, fetal pigs are relatively inexpensive, but ideally suited as dissection specimens for the study of mammalian biology.

If you are required to participate in a dissection in your course, you will probably find that dissection facilitates your understanding of the whole organism. Exploring and “discovering” structures individually helps in remembering names, appearances and locations of the anatomical structures. Likewise, this coloring book strives to enable your retention of concepts and anatomical structures by providing a hands-on activity that, in a different way, “dissects” the fetal pig and breaks the anatomy down into its individual components. You may use this book either in conjunction with dissection, or as a stand-alone learning tool.

Like humans, the pig is a member of the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia. The pig has characteristic structures such as a brain and a dorsal nerve cord protected by skeletal structures called vertebrae (common to all vertebrates), or insulating hair and mammary glands to nourish the young (common to all mammals). Examples of differences between the pig (Order Artiodactyla) and human (Order Primates) include a variety of skeletal structures adapted for quadruped or biped locomotion, opposable thumbs used for grasping in humans, and enhanced emphasis in humans on the brain’s cerebral cortex and associated structures which enable greater learning and communication skills. For detailed comparisons between the fetal pig and humans, we recommend using this book along with theAnatomy Coloring Book, by Stephanic McCann and Eric Wise, which focuses in detail on human anatomy. [Joanne, thanks for thinking of this – great way to cross-advertise.]

How to use this book

This coloring book has been designed to assist you in learning the anatomy of the fetal pig and may be used independently, or as an adjunct to dissection. In either case, labeling the diagrams or coloring in the structure will aid in remembering anatomical features and their relationships and understanding functions. If you are using this book to accompany dissection, you may use it either prior to working with the specimen in the laboratory, or as a review to solidify your memory and understanding of the material.

We suggest the following procedures for using this coloring book. If you consider yourself a novice, or are just embarking on your study of anatomy, you may prefer to look at the key at the bottom of the page first, find the corresponding structure, and then write in the term next to the structure before coloring the anatomical structure. This is a great technique for learning names and appearances of anatomical features. On the other hand, if you are using this book primarily to review and reinforce concepts you have learned before, first examine the drawings, fill in the blanks with the appropriate terms in pencil, and then check the key at the bottom of the page. Correct any mistakes and then color in the illustration in a way that cements your learning.

In most cases, the choice of colors is up to you. In a few instances, the choice of colors is designated by anatomical convention. Arteries are generally drawn in bright red, veins in deep blue, bile ducts in green, and nerves are usually yellow.

Coloring techniques

Colored pencils usually give the best result, since they do not bleed through the page and obscure fine detail. Begin using light pressure when you color; you can always go back and deepen the color as you work on the drawings. Use the same color for the same structure when it appears in more than one drawing, and use related colors for related structures – for example, using different shades of blue for different structures in the same organ system. Plan your colors before beginning each drawing, so that you can follow the anatomical conventions noted above. Color related structures in similar or related colors, and continue your own color codes from one drawing to the next. Using that method will help you to easily find a structure and reinforce the relationships of its function and organ system by color as well as name and shape.