Zoo Nurse

arsanatomica:

The skull of a Bengal tiger rests along side the skull of a domestic cat.

Notice the proportionally smaller braincase and eyes in the tiger, and the much larger flanges for muscle attachment, in comparison to the overall size of the skull.

As animals scale up in size, more muscle is needed to bear the additional weight and counteract the effects of gravity. To anchor the increased mass of the muscle, bones become more robust. Thicker, heavier, with larger flanges, and deeper hollows to provide the additional muscle with leverage. 

It’s a cyclic system. More muscle is needed to support heavier bone which in turn supports more muscle…etc. 

You’d think it could go on forever, but as animals become larger and more powerful, they also become heavier. For land predators, the cycle reaches a cutoff size when the increasing weight begins to negatively affect agility, maneuverability, and the ability to successfully catch prey. 

(via frillysafari)

malformalady:

Conjoined Nile Tilapia fish, dubbed “Siamese Twin”, swimming in a small aquarium in Bangkok. They are both eight months old and share part of the skin together. The bigger fish tends to protect the smaller one from harm while the smaller one looks for food at the bottom of the aquarium.

(via frillysafari)

malformalady:

Twinzy is a “half sider” chimera budgerigar, also known as a parakeet. Probably one the of the best ever photographed. Twinzy has the characteristics of a blue bird on one side and a green bird on the other, even his tail feathers are split down the middle. A chimera is typically formed from four parent cells (either two fertilized eggs, or two embryos which were fused). When the body is formed, cells that had already begun to develop in the embryo separate keep their original phenotypes and appearances.

aperture-inc:

perfumeforimanja:

seitanpancake:

rosesakurax:

oliviatheelf:

I never even knew this and I’ve fed bread to ducks multiple times! D: Definitely reblog this so everyone knows! 

Ive tried telling this to my mom and she wont believe me…

who would have thought all those nice old folks at the lake are actually killing ducks, i knew it was a shitty thing to do because it fosters a dependency but this…

what noooo :(

Something doesn’t seem right here. I’m going to need some cited sources, and I’m not doing your research for you.

Information provided by the National Wildlife Health Centerconfirms that this is false. The bacteria responsible for avian botulism require a warm, anaerobic (i.e. oxygen-free) environment to grow, such as inside a rotting corpse or inside the digestive tract of insects that eat rotting meat. The surface of decomposing bread is not such an environment.

As for angel wing, it is a relatively rare condition which primarily affects geese, not ducks. It is not caused by bread; it is caused by waterfowl in temperate climates being fed a high protein, high calorie diet which gives them too much nutrition and causes them to grow abnormally fast. This fast growth causes a chronic weight overload on the bird’s wings, which twists the wrist joint out of its proper position — this is reversible in young birds, but becomes permanent if left untreated.

There’s a difference between facts, and “facts.” If you see a something that seems like a fact, but tries to appeal to your emotions, it isn’t a fact.

(via pastel-acid-alice)

malformalady:

A gigantic green turtle is in intensive care after it was found on Wagait Beach with sections of its shell cut after it was believed to have been struck by a boat. vets at the Animal Ark Hospital in Darwin, Australia, inserted huge stitches to clamp its deep wounds together and it is expected to make a full recovery.

Photo credit: Michael Franchi

This Thomson’s Gazelle is exhibiting a horn abnormality- both horn sheaths have fallen off. Normally, the horns are dark, curved and ridged, but here we see only the naked bone underneath. The animal was scratching the stubs on a branch when this photo was taken. I’d assume that exposed bone is painful to touch, but apparently it actually itches. The hons can grow back if enough of the germinal layer remains in the skin at the base of the horn.

Lemur Dentistry

Peeking into the lemur’s mouth, I could see the plaque along her gumline and knew that I’d need to clean her teeth. Cleaning the teeth of a new species for the first time is always an adventure, since dentition varies so widely. But I was in for a surprise this time! All of a lemur’s lower incisors and both canines point directly forward, forming a sort of comb. The animal uses the teeth in exactly that manner- to groom the fur. This dental comb is common to all lemurs and lorises. The lower premolars have enlarged to take the place of the now-repurposed lower canines. The upper canines are wickedly large, giving me a new respect for these small primates.

You can lead a tortoise to water

But he’ll only just hide from it. Or at least that’s what our 230 lb giant Aldabra Tortoise started doing one day recently. He wasn’t drinking or eating at all, and acting very lethargic, so we admitted him into the hospital to see if we could figure it out. First we tried changing his diet, thinking that a new food item might stimulate his appetite. Next we tried various combinations of heat and humidity, since a change in environment can easily alter behavior. Nothing helped. We draw blood and took X-rays, but they revealed nothing. So we upped the ante and took him to hte human hospital for a CT scan.

Oftentimes human medical staff will donate their time and equipment to help out zoo animals. It gives them a new challenge to work on and presumably warm fuzzy feelings as well. In this case, the big challenge was an uncooperative patient. Injectible anesthetics take a long time to work in reptiles, thanks to their slow metabolisms, and our guy wasn’t even feeling his by he time we arrived at the hospital. They wheeled him into the CT room on a human gurney, a sight that amused me greatly. Once in the room, he knew something was up, and refused to sit still. Tortoise are STRONG and know it. The have no qualms about throwing themselves at any obstacle and pushing their way through, regardless of how expensive or fragile their surroundings may be. So we taped his legs down. Until he snapped the tape. We wrapped him in towels, but he pushed his way out. We covered his head, which helped, and we prepared to take the films, but inevitably he would attempt to dive off the table at the last second. Eventually, with the help of a roll and a half of duct tape, the long-awaited activation of the drugs, and a large tortilla-like sling, we wrapped him tightly enough to get the job done.

We got a CD full of images for our trouble, along with software that could compile the flat images into an eye-popping 3D computed model of the tortoise’s body. The model could be rotated on all 3 axes and viewed from all angles and directions. It was like being in a sci-fi movie, but better because it was Real. Films all came up normal though.

I’ve been a vet tech at a major zoo for almost 3 years now. It’s a great job! I get all kinds of hands-on with all kinds of animals from all over the planet.

Which species do I works with? All of them. Elephants, giraffe, gorillas, lions, shark, venomous snakes, rabbits and goats in the children’s zoo, birds of prey, flamingos, antelope, ostrich, whatever animal needs healthcare that day.

So what do I do in a day? I assist with surgeries, run anesthesia, do dental cleanings, take X-rays, treat sick and hospitalized animals, run laboratory tests, collect blood and keep the hospital clean. I have slow days of nothing but paperwork and busy days with several emergencies, one right after another.

I’ve always liked animals and wanted to work with them, but never knew exactly which of the animal industries would suit me best. After a lot of trial and error and a few false starts, I navigated my way here. This job allows me to work with some of the rarest and most impressive species in existence. Every day has different and fascinating challenges, and it’s gratifying to be a positive influence on the lives of these individual animals and in their conservation as a whole.