Week 15

This week, we did another dissection in anatomy and physiology. This time, we dissected hearts. We learnt how the respiratory system and the circulatory system work together to create the cardiovascular system. When we cut into the heart, we were able to see the 4 chambers and was able to follow the direction of blood flow through the veins, arteries and other sections.

I found it difficult to see all of the heart at first due to the heart strings keeping it closed. These are technically called chordae tendineae. They were surprisingly small, despite the fact that they were so strong.

Fortunately, this time, I didn’t cut myself, which is an achievement in itself.

January 29, 2019 0

Week 14

This week, I did another dissection in anatomy and physiology. This time, we were dissecting lungs. Like the last time, I enjoyed the session as it was hands on and I was able to see the structures in real life. As we had a full trachea attached to our lungs, the tutor used a tube to blow them up. This shocked me as I wasn’t expecting it to happen so quickly and get so big. The fact that our tutor did this, made the lungs turn redder than everyone else’s as they had become more oxygenated. They also had bubbles in them and you could see the air escaping when you pressed them. There was also some liver still attached to the bottom and the oesophagus was still present.

A feature I found fascinating was the diaphragm. This was mainly due to the fact that it was so thin, yet so strong. It had muscle attached to the outside of it which would have held it in place. You could also stretch it in the way it would have done when it was in a living animal. I wasn’t expecting it to be the colour that it was either. I originally thought that it would be red in colour like most tissues, but instead, it was white and a bit opaque.

Unfortunately, I did end up cutting myself again with the scalpel.

Next week, we are doing another dissection but of a heart. I’m hoping that I will be more successful this time in not cutting myself.

January 28, 2019 0

Week 13

This week, I watched several episodes of the programme Dynasties, narrated by David Attenborough. In each episode, a team visit different areas of the world and spend several months there observing and filming wild animals to show their ways of life and behaviour. I watched episodes including a group of Chimpanzees in West Africa and a group of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica.

The episode on the Emperor Penguins in particular has captured my attention. This is due to the harsh conditions shown and it shows how many of the individuals lost their lives at different stages of reproduction in the cold. It was difficult to watch the chicks being left when their parents went off to hunt and the parents coming back to find that their chick had passed away whilst they were gone.

There is a section at the end of each episode that is about the film crew and what they went through in order to get the footage. This section of the Emperor Penguin episode caused debate. This was due to a large number of penguins and their chicks falling down a large ditch and being unable to get out For this reason, the crew dug a pathway for them to escape or else they wouldn’t survive. This has caused some people to argue that the crew should have left them alone as this was just nature. Others argued that they didn’t physically pick the penguins up and move them out of the ditch and it was still the penguins choice whether of not they would use the path, therefore, it is acceptable. David Attenborough has since agreed with the crew in what they did, even though they technically weren’t allowed to interfere.

I agree with the fact that they should have dug the pathway. It was very difficult to see the mothers abandoning their chicks in order to get out and survive themselves. I believe that even though they wouldn’t have survived if the film crew weren’t there, they were there and were right to intervene to allow them to survive. Also, like other have argued, the penguins still got out themselves whether they had help or not.

January 28, 2019 0

Week 12

This week, I was working on the animal unit. As it is just before the Christmas break, we did I full clean on a rabbit pen. It took 2 hours to complete as it is quite a big enclosure. The pen housed 4 large white rabbits. There used to be 6 but unfortunately, 2 of them had passed away. All 6 had been rescued from a lab where they had been used for testing. For this reason, they were all very skittish and weren’t used to being handled. They also all had a number tattooed to the inside of their ear as an identification tag when they were at the lab.

The first step to cleaning out the rabbits was to remove the extra fittings and fixtures from the area. As there were so many, we had to move them around and work around them. We used shovels to scoop the majority of the dirty substrate into bin bags which were taken to a waste area. We they swept the area until it was fully clear of substrate. We then covered the floor with a layer of clean wood shavings and put the fixtures and fitting back. We gave them food and changed the water tray so they had fresh water. We also gave them hey, stray and readigrass. We put this around the enclosure, including in hey racks, there house they used as a bed, on top of logs and in toys.

We then swept the outside area and cleaned the equipment and put it back.

January 28, 2019 0

Week 11

This week, in anatomy and physiology, we dissected pig feet and also watched our tutor dissect a horse leg. I find dissecting really interesting as things look different in real life than they do to a diagram, even though this makes it more difficult when it comes to identification.

I always get surprised at how all the different structures look so similar and its hard to tell them apart, even when you have just learnt about it. The equipment that I used to dissect the pig feet were tweezers and a scalpel.

Before starting, I wore PPE. I had on a lab coat, plastic gloves, sleeve covers and an apron.

I really enjoyed this session, even though I managed to cut myself with the scalpel. I like doing hands on work where I am able to look at things myself and try to identify what everything is.

In the future, I want to do more dissecting and hopefully not cut myself.

January 28, 2019 0

Week 10

This week, I attended a personal tutorial with one of my tutors. The purpose of this was to review my progress and look at areas where I need extra improvement. We discussed how my weakest topic was health and nutrition and this continues to be the case now. We also discussed how my strongest topic was anatomy and physiology. I decided that I needed to write everything down in a visual way as I learn best with colour and organisation. This has helped with my health and nutrition work in the past but I still am not at the level that I want to be at and will continue to work on this in the future.

Another topic we discussed in the meeting was how I am doing in myself. I struggle a lot with stress but I have found ways over the last few years to cope and deal with it and I am managing to keep on top of work and get everything in on time. Although I still find it difficult, I know I am improving and will continue to do so in the future.

January 28, 2019 0

Week 9

This week, I practiced bandaging real dogs. I practiced the head bandage in particular. I realised that this was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The 2 dogs we had were both young and it was difficult when they were trying to play with each other and were moving around a lot.

The dog above was called Rupert and his brother was called Spencer.

I carried out a head bandage. This is used to cover cuts on the ears as well as the head. For an ear bandage, you need to put a sterile dressing on the cut and on top of the head. Fold the ear back on top of the head against the dressing. Put extra cotton wool on top for a more comfortable feeling for the dog. Use a layer of Softban and wrap it around the head and under the chin in a figure of eight, making sure to leave the other ear out. It is important that you don’t wrap it too tightly as this can cause difficulty when eating and breathing. You should be able to get 2 fingers underneath the bandage. Write on the bandage where the ear is underneath so you don’t cut it when it comes to taking the bandage off.

January 28, 2019 0

Week 8

This week, I created and presented a presentation to my class on the animal I studied at Blackpool zoo. In pairs, we used facts, pictures and videos to give information on our animal. Me and my partner studied Red Titi monkeys. I initially found the idea of presenting to be a daunting one but when I actually did it, it wasn’t as bad as I originally thought it would be. I realised that all of our class felt the same and we were actually supportive of each other. Also, not being alone helped the situation a lot.

As you can see in the picture above, we focused not only on the general lives of Red Titi monkeys but also on behaviours of those in the wild compared to those in captivity. We also explained the behaviour we observed when we were at Blackpool zoo.

In the future, I would like to present again in order to work on my nerves. I’m hoping I will be able to learn from this experience and remember that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

January 26, 2019 0

Week 7

This week, there was a research conference. The day consisted of different talks from researchers, staff and students on previous experiences and tests they had done. The talk which I found most interesting was about the Marion Island. The research was carried out by a group which would spend a full year there, observing 8 million individual seabirds from 29 different species. It was explained that the birds on this island were endangered. However, it isn’t clear as to why. The researchers are doing tests including tagging seabirds in order to monitor them. Another interesting talk was on the vaccination of rabies in developing countries. I found out that workers were risking their own lives, capturing stray dogs in order to vaccinate them against rabies. Although there is a long way to go, the world health organisation has done a lot of successful work in battling the disease.

January 26, 2019 0

Week 6

During this week, we went on a trip to Blackpool zoo in order to observe behaviours in animal. I did mine on Red Titi monkeys and spent to hours watching them and recording their behaviour.

I used 2 different types of recording methods, both of them for an hour each. The first was a continuous sampling method. To do this, I had to record everything the individual did, including the time it started and stopped and the amount of visitors were present at the time. Then, using the most common behaviours from the continuous sampling, I carried out instantaneous sampling. This is when I have a table with a list of behaviours at the top and at set intervals (I did every minute), I ticked either a behaviour, other or out of site. I found the instantaneous sampling a lot easier and a lot less stressful. This was due to the constant writing for continuous sampling in very little time and it got confusing very easily. For example, I had to record if they moved and what time that was, if they stopped and what time that was and if they moved again, what time that was. This could be in the space of a few seconds.

I watched a family of Red Titi monkeys. There were two parents and a child. I focused on the child but also watched how it interacted with the others and how the others behaviour effected the child. Whilst watching, I noticed in one incident that the father attacked the mother. I decided to do research as to why that was and found out that the young are raised primarily by the father and they only go to the mothers for milk. This was the current situation and the father got jealous.

Whilst watching them, I also noticed some behaviours which I weren’t expecting such as wood knowing and licking the ceiling. This could possibly be due to boredom as the enclosure wasn’t massive or maybe it was something as simple as scents.

I didn’t notice any repetitive behaviours or other indications that they were stressed. Although the enclosure wasn’t big, it wasn’t tiny and they did have an inside and an outside area. Both of these spaces were relatively cleaned suggesting they are maintained often and they have a lot of social interaction. However, on the day we went, it was raining and they all spent about 95% of their time indoors. This could explain boredom and the possible wood knowing and ceiling licking.

The individual seen in this picture is the one we observed. As you can see from the picture, the family had a lot of ropes and branches that they could play with and sit on. You are also able to tell how maintained it is.

December 2, 2018 0