Friday, August 10, 2012

August 7th: Shearwaters


(Sorry this blog may be gruesome for a bit)
Today after my physiology class I decided to go for a long run. I ran the whole parameters of the campus and it was such a beautiful day. It took about an hour and when I came back my legs were sore but I felt great. My body is getting used to the work outs already. After I got ready, I headed to my practical and found out we were dissecting marine birds. The birds were from fishing accidents or found upon the shore. The bird that my partner and I received was called an Australian Shear Water and they were actually specimens that we had to record data from for a poaching court case.
(This part may want to be skipped for those with a weak stomach): The head of ours was actually missing because that’s how these poachers kill the juvenile birds for their meat. We drew the feathers and took measurements and started dissection. It felt rushed because we only had three hours and I’m used to three hours to dissect one body system, not the whole body. The professors were very impressed by my ability to just dive in and open up the bird and look at all the organs. The professor and professional marine wildlife researcher there were joking that I should do CSI work because I knew what I was looking at and naming it the whole time. I knew anatomy class would pay off! This was the first time I opened up an animal that was not preserved and it was a different experience to see blood and not smell formaldehyde. We had to take measurements and samples for the researchers on the court case.

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