Busum part 2

Then it was the morning of the dissections! We were all so excited at breakfast in our coveralls. Before we went into the lab we had a lecture about the research projects they have going on in the area and on seals and porpoises. They are really concentrating on how noise pollution is affecting these animal species not only with breeding but with turning them toward dangerous areas and ultimately leading to their death- specifically whales. I never realized how big of an issue this was for all marine life. They have shown by catching wild porpoises and testing their hearing ability that they are actually losing their full ability to hear du to the noise pollution. Those that are monitored have also shown that they dive deeper in areas of higher noise. They also believe this pollution is the cause of whales moving into shallower waters and ultimately beaching themselves. Some other things they are looking at is the behavior of the grey seals which have now been seen a few times attacking and eating Harbour seals. More studies need to be done to determine if it is just a few aggresive seals or if this is a normal behavior for grey seals. Overall it was a great lecture and I learned a lot. Then we made our way into the dissection lab! My group dissected a less than 2 year old seal who was shot by the seal hunter because he was not eating and sick on the beach. When opening up the abdomen we found parasites in the stomach, and the small intestine. We pulled every worm we found out of the intestine and into a jar to be examined. The seal also had a severe Granulomatous pneumonia. No other complications were seen. The group with the porpoise found a fish in the larynx which was determined to be the cause of death and parasites were found in the ear. We had so much fun! Later that night we had a delicious dinner with the seal hunter at his restaurant. By far the best food on the trip and it was great getting to hear some of his hunting stories. 

Last day in busum was spent on the mud walk! It was such a fun and relaxing way to end the trip