Q: The place used to be your internship this summer time?!
A: In pursuit of a profession in zoological medication, my existence has made twists and turns that I may have by no means imagined. As a Florida woman at center, I knew I sought after to go back to my house state for a summer time internship involving natural world medication. With the assistance of my mentor, Dr. Osofsky, Director of the Cornell Natural world Well being Heart, I become aware of a gem in Northeast Florida: the South-East Zoo Alliance for Copy and Conservation (SEZARC). Directed by way of Dr. Linda Penfold, SEZARC works on copy demanding situations in different US zoos and aquariums around the nation. A few of their paintings comes to fertility tests, assisted copy, and birth control in natural world.
Q: What paintings did you take part in at your internship?
A: The internship concerned many hands-on alternatives. Within the lab, I discovered easy methods to read about semen traits microscopically from stingrays, sharks, tigers, okapis, and lots of different species! I discovered easy methods to make the most of ELISA to locate hormone concentrations in elephant stool samples. Within the box, I discovered easy methods to acquire and cryopreserve semen samples from tigers and cheetahs for genome banking functions. I carried out literature searches on copy knowledge for quite a lot of zoo animals within the place of business.
Along with interning at SEZARC, the group’s connections with different conservation/zoological amenities in North Florida unfolded some sudden doorways. I shadowed zoo veterinarians from White Oak Conservation and the Jacksonville Zoo! Underneath the supervision of White Oak vets, I vaccinated a rhino calf and attended an okapi echocardiogram. On the Jacksonville Zoo, I attended regimen elephant well being tests and shadowed roseate spoonbill pre-shipment assessments.
Q: What did you acquire from this enjoy?
A: Ahead of this internship, I lacked precise analysis enjoy. SEZARC allowed me to discover analysis having the ability to ask numerous questions! From literature searches, knowledge assortment and access, lab paintings, and paper writing, I think I left with a well-rounded figuring out of the aim of natural world copy analysis for conservation. SEZARC mixed my passions for zoological medication and theriogenology in tactics I may have by no means imagined. I’m hoping to proceed operating in analysis as a veterinary scholar and a zoo veterinarian hopeful.
Carolina Baquerizo, Magnificence of 2024, won her BS in Organic Science from Florida State College. She started volunteering at Zoo Miami when she used to be 15 and has held more than one zoological internships since then. She aspires to turn into a zoo veterinarian so that you can take part in ex situ conservation paintings.