A Year In Review: 2016 Animal Success Stories

This is the time of the year when most of us tend to do a lot of looking back and reflecting on the events of the past year. Which of those resolutions did we keep? What did we accomplish in our personal lives or in the workplace? I've had the opportunity to witness quite a few remarkable events of late at Shedd Aquarium, and I for one have been "wowing" and "holy cowing" quite a bit lately. Looking back for us is another reminder of what a cool place the aquarium is and how with over 32,000 patients of 1,500 or so species we never fully know what the day will bring. I'd like to share here a few examples of our extraordinary 2016. Green Sawfish Surgery This year the largest fish in our collection needed special attention and care. "Ginsu" is a green sawfish also known as a Longcomb sawfish who has made Shedd her home since January of 2003. If you've visited our Wild Reef exhibit chances are you've seen her swim by- - she's pretty impressive to see; 10 foot of fish and 4 foot of saw out front! Now imagine having to do surgery on her, which is exactly what we had to do. Ginsu developed a benign growth on her left rear fin. It started out fairly small but got to be larger than a hockey puck. Our first move was to confirm that it was a benign growth by doing an underwater biopsy. Our resident veterinarian-in-training got to practice clinical and diving skills simultaneously while collecting a small piece of the mass to send to the lab. Lab results confirmed our suspicions and a ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news