A few people have asked me to further explain how the hummingbird analogy actually works, so I thought I'd try to give a little more visual detail.

Here is a pretty simple line drawing of the brain in mid-sagittal section (i.e., a cut that follows the mid-line of the body.) The structures highlighted in yellow are the midbrain, pons, medulla oblongata, and the cerebellum, and collectively, are what anatomists describe to their students as looking like the body and wing of a hummingbird.



To illustrate this concept, I started with a basic pen and ink drawing of a torso in mid-sagittal section, scanned it in to Illustrator, and built my hummingbird and spinal cord as vector graphics. Eventually, I hope to illustrate more of these analogies, since I think they are not only informative, but visually intriguing.



End result...



Cheers,

Erin