The Severed Head of a Dog Kept Alive?
I just came across a very disturbing video on this site, of an experiment that was supposedly carried out in Russia ca. 1940. See below (it’s nothing gory really, you just feel really sorry for the dog).
After watching it twice, I felt compelled to find out if it’s real or not. This wikipedia article claims that it’s from a motion picture called Experiments in the Revival of Organisms. It’s in the public domain now, so you can download it here — I for one will watch it after I’ve gotten over the uneasy feeling from watching the short clip.
The article says there is some debate of whether the experiments are real, or if they were maybe created as Communist propaganda (Communism lets you live forever … as a head). But there is no mention of any evidence pointing to this being fake. So, with my usual skepticism, I’m going to present something that may or may not disprove the validity of the film. It’s not that I don’t believe they did (and do) horrible animal experiments, it’s just this particular clip I’m skeptical about.
If you watched the clip above, you’ll notice that in the last few seconds when they are banging that hammer on the table — the dog moves his head up from the table. I’m sorry, but given that your head was sliced clean off at the neck level and you were lying on a table — would you be able to move your head? Maybe open your mouth, but move your head? Hmmmm. I’m putting on my mask of skepticism.
Let’s look at the muscular anatomy of dogs, shall we? In the picture on the right you will see a typical kanine. Notice that the muscles descending from behind his ear and from his neck are attached to the upper part of his body.
- The red line indicates where they cut
- The curly braces indicate an estimate length of the muscles that control head movements
So, without something to pull on (the body) the muscles could hardly have lifted the dogs head up from the table in the manner shown in the video.
Unless somebody else has a ready explanation?
6 Comments, Comment or Ping
Mags
I agree entirely with you. In fact there are a few points in the video where movements that are impossible without the head still being attached to the body occur, such as the reaction to the citric acid.
There are movements up and down and side to side at various points. Whilst you might expect an amount of movement from facial muscle activity, that’s not what they are.
Jun 26th, 2007
miguel
Also if you look at the citric acid label it jumps around.
The way this was made was that the dogs head was put through a hole in a board or wall. The premise is established by the illustration at the beginning. The cartoon at the beginning establishes the cut off head. You never see the actual connection to the veins or the pump itself.
Now I will not dispute whether this technology is real or not but the video itself is a farce. Fantastic though but a farce.
Jun 27th, 2007
Jay
After taking anatomy of the dog, you will know this video is a complete farce, the animal will even be unable to move its head at all, even the jaws, I assure you. In addition, how are wastes pumped out of the cells of the head and how are brain cells supplied glucose, a vital component of living brain tissue? Without glucose the brain cells would die quickly, within minutes. The whole purpose of O2 is to be an acceptor for electrons in the ETC, and since there is no source of acety Coa to enter the ETC (glucose–>(glycolysis)—> pyruvate—> (pyruvate dehydrogenase)—> acetyl coA), Oxygen will do no good, and the do cells will go into anaerobic respiration, producing lactate, and they will die because the liver is unable to convert this lactate back into pyruvate. Enough of that, the video is definitely fake.
Feb 27th, 2008
Karl
Try doing your own experiment of this and it might be true.
Oct 4th, 2008
tim
sick b*****d Karl.
Oct 13th, 2008
anonymous
While parts of the video are undoubtedly staged, the experiment is real. It was performed for both the Soviet medical board and various groups of western scientists, and lead to the development of artificial H&L machines.
Mar 10th, 2009
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