My University diary :)

Hey guys just a quick update induction is finished i now have 4 days off .

I start again on tuesday and i go straight in to studying cell biology and its double so four hours in a row of cell biology i think my brain will get frazzled, in the afternoon i look at animal diversity which i think will be fun.

Hello. Today at uni i started my lessons which included cell biology and animal evolution. We looked at theories which were interesting looking at people like darwin. In a couple of weeks i am off up to the natural history museum with the uni to see all the animals there again. This will be fun. Tomorrow i start work in the animal unit getting hands on experience and cleaning and feeding the animals. Untill next time bye

Hello today saw me start to handle animals and first up was animal routines and i was sent down to work on the farm which resulted in working with 3 species. Donkeys, Goats and Chickens. The donkeys were the best as you get to lead and walk them around also the goats all have leads and we took them for a walk as well. I had the most timid goat but i managed to get her lead on her very quickly . Next up was husbandry and we learnt how to hold rabbits and guinea pigs correctly. I loved the rabbits as they are known as rex rabbits and have soft fur like velvet. However it was maulting and it looked like i had made a rabbit out of all the hair that was on me. LOL. We also learnt how to sex the animals to discover if they are male or female. which was interesting as well. That is it for today but if anyone has any questions feel free to ask thank you all for reading and i will put the next installment on tomorrow.

Dan

Hey guys it was my last day of the week today and i started an animal behaivour module today and part of it requires me to go to the local zoo sit for several hours and record everything the animal does i really want to do the ring tailed lemurs because ur allowed in their inclosure . I also learnt how to havard reference which is really tough and i do not like it its all good there and i am enjoying myself and untill next week on tuesday this diary will be closed but only shortly

Hey Dan,  I'm wondering what you're majoring in.   It sounds wonderful.   Good luck with it.   I bet it will be lots of fun...at least the hands on bits.  

Hello zasu i am doing a foundation degree in animal science its part of a degree so if i want to i can finish it in a third year. It sets me up to do things like animal behaivour, conservation, adaptations, animal care and all those sorts of things.

Thanks Dan, sounds great.   You get to live in England AND work with animals.   How green am I?   And you're so close to Africa...closer than me anyway. 

Hello all, sorry for the delay i have been ill and so not been up too much typing but now i feel better . I would like to say today that i mucked out a donkeys stable. Her name is slim because when she was rescued she was very thin. Thankfully all the kind love at plumpton has given her a 2nd life and a much loved one. I got to clean her hooves which was a new experience as well. I brushed her down and walked her around the paddock. It was amazing and something i wil never forget. The reason i do this is because it is called animal routines. The students go in and feed, groom and clean the animals and their exhibits. Its very messy and muddy down on the farm and i am thankful for the overalls and welly boots. Next week i will be working with the goats. All the animals now sleep in the barn because its getting cold outside and this is much more comfortable for them . Moving onto my lessons i started buisness management and for the first time in my life i do not have a clue lol. I have to produce a buisness plan and have not got a clue what to do so i will have to hit google and the books and see what i can find out. Tomorrow i have animal behaivour again which is my favourite and anatomy and physiology which is very interesting.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my diary and i love writing to you all and sharing my experiences. But i am off to bed now as i am tired and i need to wash my overalls and they smell of donkey night night everyone.

Dan!

Dan...

Okidokie and yep i enjoyed your diary

i envy your situaton..

How come zebra's are black/white ?

Oh Dan!   Sounds like heaven to me!   I worked in a petting zoo for 13 years and I particularly love donkeys and goats.  I have picked hooves and slung hay and straw and picked up lots and LOTS of poo.  Please give my regards to slim and give her a little kiss for me.   A word of advice though--never kiss a sheep.   I tried it once and REALLY regretted it.   Must have been the lanolin--tastes terrible!

Zasu thank you for sharing you experience... and its a funny story about the sheep. We only have three at plumpton i think they might be rescued three females. They always look mean and moody haha

Hello, went to the natural history museum today it was amazing and i went to the new darwin exhibit which is wonderful it definately worth a look if anyone is in london. lots of pretty butterflies. Saw all the mamals and dinosaurs as well. They were all wondeful. They have the wildlfife photgrapher of the  year coming up as well.

Hey guys had an amazing day today and it started with my last trip down to little wales farm were i was on goat duty today and i looked after 6 goats i fed them and mucked out their stable and walked them around the paddock, My goat was called Flo and she pulled so much but it was fun. Next up i handled animals in the animal care unit, I held a rat a gerbil a mouse and chinchilla the chinchilla is the hardest but the softest animal to hold. Heres a fact for you people rats and mice and gerbils can drop their tails. If a predeator graps them the skin can pull of exposing the bone, however the animal will die its not a good insurance it will give the animal a few more weeks to pass on its genes. Once the tail is gone there are on borrowed time.

thanks for reading

dan

I did not know that about mice and rats, even though I worked with them and picked them up by the tails all the time. 

I milked a goat once.   I think her baby had died and she was becoming engorged, so we had to help her out for a while until she dried up.   We didn't generally milk our animals though. 

I went to the Natural History Museum.  Not enough time to really see it properly.   I wanted to see the dodo.   I thought it was a real stuffed one but I seem to remember that it is a fake. 

You sound like you're having so much fun.

Hello here is another installment. Firstly i would like to apologise for my absense i have just had flu for the first time in my life and its been difficult. University is great but its a busy week i will change routines tomorrow and work and feed different animals and i also get to hold again. I have many projects due in including a paper on darwin and creationism. I also have to write about evolution in fish, amphibs, reptiles, mamals and birds with pictorial evidence so i will be working hard on that. Studied DNA today so you can quiz me haha i may not get it right though and next week i look at classification of animals which is really interesting.

Zasu i did not know either and its very interesting to find out new stuff. aww poor goat and i am glad u enjoy reading. Yes im not sure if its real its real size and they have a real skeleton there now i did see the dodos there are more than one

On a happier note the incontinent cat is back on his feet and was outside playing with his brother this afternoon and looks like he will make a full recovery its good news

I saw on a nature show once that at some point in history, the cheetah population must have crashed drastically and that they have very little DNA diversity and that they would be very vulnerable to contagious disease. 

 Maybe you can mention that in your paper and put me as a footnote.

this is very interesting its something good to know...

Another day in the life of dan at plumpton and we did swap routines i am now in the bird room with a very angry quail. I saved his life as well because he was looking out his catch and one of the cats came up and almost swiped him so i chased it off, however i did not get a thank you he turned charged and pecked me repeatedly and did this for an hour... he is pure evil lol. But working in the bird room also means i get to work with hugo the skunk so that will be enjoyable and i cannot wait because he is a little cutey... lol. I also had my husbandry and i finished off learning how to hold small mamals we looked at degus and hamsters then tried sugar gliders..

QUESTION HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD A SUGAR GLIDERS CALL???

If not have a guess what it sounds like i will post answer soon . Moving onto today i handed in my first assingment which is scary times haha... but i hope its alright and i studied more animal behaivour and looked at why playing is important and different calling systems and i learnt about Vervets our monkey friends that have a different alarm call for every predeator. For leopard, martial eagle and python. I also did anatomy today and met loads of new cells which was interesting. Right i hope you enjoy reading and hope to see some guesses haha see you all soon bye bye

dan

Thank Dan for sharing your journal, it is so comforting to know your love for the animals that are in your care. Doris

Hello guys this will be a long one as it is two days worth...

On tuesday i had to start my experiment assingment and we are doing microscopy which is drawing cells under the microscope and then producing a lab report. This will be difficult but fun. On my evolution module i was set my 2nd assingment which consists of 4 pratical tasks and my first one is too collect woodlouse from my garden and ID them and write about the different species. This will be fun.

Today i had animal routines and got my frist look at hugo the adorable skunk (no bias ) He is amazing and i fed him his breakfast and cuddled him. He had grapes, banana, apple, broccoli, sweet potatoe, parsnips and a scrambled egg. On thursdays he get tuna and on tuesday he gets chicken. He also has orange poo. I asked why this was and told it was because of his diet because its more vegan his poo changes colour i thought this was interesting. LOL. Then came husbandry and first we handle ferrets they are so cute and you can hold them with one hand and let the dangle they love it although my friend got bitten and bled. So it wasnt good. We then let hugo out and he walked around and ate crickets its was hypnotic watching him walk around... and i love him very much. To buy a skunk in britain as a pet it would cost you £500 and its is illegal to remove their scent glands so hugo still has his.

right i am off for another day tomorrow is behaivour so that will be fun see you all soon and thank you for reading

dan!

I worked with Quails.   They're pretty dozy. 

I was surprised to find out there were skunks in Britain so I looked it up on the BBC natural history page and found that they are not natural to Britain but have been bred and released, accidentally or otherwise.  We have lots of them here.  They adapt very well to city living.   I was feeding one for a few days that was stuck on a ledge.   They are very nice looking animals, but WHEW!   When they go off!   I used to have some living in a shed right outside my bedroom window and one year was bad for skunk fights.   I would wake up to hear them squeaking and have to leap up and close my window.     But another time they had babies and I saw them all playing in the front yard of this house next door.   CUUUUUTE!!!

I also owned ferrets.   They are cute and fun but they don't toilet train very well, no matter what anyone tells you.   And by the time they are 5 or 6 they're getting sick and costing you big bucks.  They're susceptible to a couple of kinds of cancer, so it's usually one or the other that carries them off. 

Have fun.   It brings back fond memories of working with animals.  I was telling a lady today about the strangest thing I ever did in my working career and I would have to say it was wiping the nose of a goat.   He was a lovely little goat and had been badly attacked by a jack donkey.   He lost an eye and the kick in the head also affected his sinuses.   He always had a snotty nose and I would carry a paper towel with me in case I needed to wipe Yoda's nose.    Lots of fun stories...many too earthy to share on Africam.  Lol.

Zasu it is so wonderful to hear other peoples experiences. Yes you are very correct about skunks being really cute. They are becoming very popular animals.

Today i looked at animal behaivour we looked at the advantages and disadvantages of social living. And looked at different primates and what they do and the hierachal system very interesting. I also had anatomy today and studied different types of tissues in the body. Now i must say i have been telling you all the positives to my course but sadly there is a negative and it is called research methods and it is so boring even the teachers dislike it. So sadly its not a hit but i need to pass it to move on so i will keep trying

Good luck with that Dan. Every silver lining has a cloud. 

Yes unfortunately it does i have a busy day today i get mondays and fridays off and today i have to go outside a collect woodlouse for my lesson tomorrow, i assure you no woodlouse will be harmed

Didn't I hear somewhere that it was Be Kind to Woodlice week?

Sorry ive been a busy boy this week but as promised here is another diary entry for the whole week.

This week started on tuesday at college where i was in the lab. We were doing a microscopy report and we had to find three things under the scope. First we were given yeast cells and we found them easily. Next up we took swobs from our mouths and found cheek cells. they were cool because we saw the the nucleus. We also had to draw all these slides. Our final slide was the hardest we had to locate an ameoba. Many groups had tried and failed at first we looked to be going down that path as we only found its food, but after a bit of focus there it was. Side by side two of them we had hit the jackpot and the lecturer was impressed. So we quickly drew them and watched with fascination. Next up was my evolution lesson and this is where the woodlouse came in we had to ID them all i had 23 woodlouse and found 5 species which i now have to write a report about. somebody had 38 of the same species.

Wednesday was an interesting day back to routines and it was my last week with hugo the skunk. He had a special treat we gave him tuna and i gave him a little pat. If you could all see him you would fall in love like i have. I will get a picture and show you all one day . So i could be doing something very different next week which will be fun. In husbandry we are now looking at handiling birds and we looked at the difference between two chickens male and female they have different pelvises but i am sure the chickens didnt enjoy us touching the pelvises LOL. then we were locked in a dove cage and had to catch one but they are violent creatures and it was more like organised chaos i caught three doves but they all escaped they use there feet to escape. We will hopefully get to handle birds of prey next week or in the next few weeks and these are eagle owls and harris hawks so something to look forward too.

Thursday was back in the classroom and we were launched another assingment this time in animal behaivour and we are going to the zoo to watch social animals and record three behiavours including foraging and feeding. Drusillas we are going too and i would like to look at the lemurs. Going in two weeks so it will be fun. Anatomy was good as well looking at bone and cartilage which was interesting as well. Finally finished the day with good old research methods (not!) we were critiquing papers which is never fun at half 4 on a thursday afternoon ohh well i have to keep going and i am enjoying the course so much

Hope you enjoy reading this

many thanks dan

Dan, I am really enjoying hearing about your course - it sounds great.  It's also good that you are getting so much pleasure from it.  Yes please to photos of Hugo

I will do my best

Sounds great Dan.   If I was young again, I would do something like that.  I am hoping that I can do something with animals again after I retire.   That's a ways off yet though.

Hey guys tomorrow is a good day as it is routines and i find out which new room i am in tomorrow so that is fine.

Some good news now i got my first assignment back today and got 60% which considering i am no good at buisness i thought was good. So i am happy with myself as 40% is a pass so i am doing well however i think i am going to try and improve this in the summer by resubmitting