The Muscular System is responsible in the human body along with the anatomy of a cat for either flexing, extending, abducting, adducting, pronating, supinating, or rotating at all of the joints in the body. On a smaller scale, muscles also help with the connection of bones, typically reaching from the end of one bone to the end of another. There are muscles all over the body, on the upper limbs, lower limbs, on the backside (dorsal) and the front (ventral) of the cat. The muscles on the limbs are typically used to flex or extend, while a handful of them are imperative to the other actions. The dorsal muscles of the cat are important to elevating and retracting the Scapulae, and abducting and adducting the upper limbs. The ventral muscles are similar in function, while some rotate the head, like the Sternomastoid pictured above.
What We Learned:
We learned a lot about the cat while dissecting the Muscular System. One of the most monumental things that we came across was the fact that proportionally, cats have very large and developed Gastrocnemii, Solei, and Peronei, all muscles in the calf area. This is a good explanation as to why cats have the capability of jumping so high and are so quick on their feet. We also learned that some muscles in the cat have different names than muscles in the human body, but may share the same purpose, such as the Sternomastoid and the Serratus Ventralis. We also came across muscles that are entirely absent in the human body, such as the Pectoantebrachialis on the chest. The muscular system was very intriguing for us to be able to see the differences in the muscles in the cat that allows them to be spectacularly athletic.