Today was the first day of my summer internship. This is the second zoo internship that I have done so I thought I had an idea of what I would be doing here. My first internship was basically an unpaid animal care position. This internship is WAY more involved. I have been tapped as the "needle man", meaning that during the course of the summer I will be drawing blood on aquatic snakes, turtles and salamanders. Under normal circumstances I would be really excited about the situation but in this case I am actually a little bit nervous. In order to complete the protocol for my study, I need to be able to find a vein that can't be seen and draw the blood in 3 minutes or less after capture. It's like fast food phlebotomy. I'm just hoping that I don't hear the jeopardy theme song playing while I am streamside. My saving grace is that I am not the only "needle man" on these projects.
Highlight of Day 1: Seeing a Giraffe fetus preserved in a jar. The fetus was an incidental finding on a necropsy and the attending vet decided to keep it around. I know, I'm kind of weird like that...
Lowlight of Day 1: Rain, rain, rain. Too wet for a camp fire tonight but I guess it doesn't matter anyway. Orientation day 2 is right around the corner...
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