I forgot to do this interesting post before I left for the east coast and recently found some photos that reminded me. A few days prior to my east coast trip the marine science center conducted a seal pup necropsy training. Necropsy is another word for animal autopsy. I had been involved in one of these back in my AmeriCorps days and then kind of on a squid with Jess, but didn't have as much involvement with this. It got pretty messy and I'd refrain from scrolling down if you have a weak stomach. We had two vets on hand to walk us through what they were doing. The science center were recently the receipients of a grant to do more marine mammal research. Often we are called when marine mammals are found on beaches, those that have died and are found recently provide an opportunity to learn about why they may have died to log information for scientists and researchers. The plan is to have volunteers and staff prepared when the time comes to respond to these kinds of calls. This was a practice and training on what we can expect. It got really gorey but was very interesting. Definitely takes a certain kind of person to do this stuff for a living, and I could see assisting but man, even my stomach didn't feel so great. Enjoy!
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| Cute baby seal that had been frozen since its death a few weeks prior |
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| In the middle of it, I was taking notes |
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| She was showing us the trachea... |
2 comments:
Animal Autopsies...new this fall on Discovery!
very, very interesting!! how great that you can be part of this important work, my dear Claudie!!!
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