packed together in the cells, the harder it is to
cut across them. So the meat of older, well
exercised animals is tougher than the meat of
young animals.
Connective Tissue Connective tissue is the
physical harness for all the other tissues in the
body, muscle included. It connects individual
cells and tissues to each other, thus organizing
and coordinating their actions. Invisibly thin
layers of connective tissue surround each
muscle fiber and hold neighboring fibers
together in bundles, then merge to form the
large, silver-white sheets that organize fiber
bundles into muscles, and the translucent
tendons that join muscles to bones. When the
fibers contract, they pull this harness of
connective tissue with them, and the harness
pulls the bones. The more force that a muscle
exerts, the more connective tissue it needs for
reinforcement, and the stronger the tissue
needs to be. So as an animal’s growth and