Archive for January 25th, 2001
Day 22
Elisa and Colin began their research today. We got up at 3:00am - a cold, rainy morning. Despite the early hour I was in good spirits, because I was really looking forward to being able to help in this study.
It was a big operation, involving Colin and Elisa, Dr. Rogers, the professor and wife, lab-tech, Marian, Juliette and Tania. We darted 5 cheetah one by one, hauling them onto the buggy to take them to a nearby shelter where all the equipment was.
There, they hooked up each cheetah to a drip, with a catheter to draw blood samples every half hour. They were each wrapped in a blanket to keep them warm, and given hoods to act as a blindfold - apparently, when under the influence of the anesthetic, their pupils do not respond correctly to light levels, and so a hood is required to protect the retina from over-exposure to light.
The sight of 5 cheetahs in a line all wrapped up is a totally surreal sight, it looked like a cheetah hospital! To be able to hold a single unconscious breathing, live cheetah, an animal I used to stare in wonder at on the telly, was amazing. Now there are five.
Everything was meticulously recorded, as for any scientific investigation. Temperature, heart rate and breathing rate readings were taken regularly for safety and an occasional top-up of anesthetic if they showed signs of stirring. It was a spectacular operation to be involved in - I try to soak it all up, knowing I propbably won’t see anything like this again.
It all seemed to go to plan. There was one near-mishap though - the centrifuge used to separate the blood samples suddenly made a clanging noise, and there was one of those heart-stopping moments where everyone looks at each other in alarm, fearing the worst - had the blood samples survived? Thankfully, they had!
We went on our second night-drive today, with the folks from the university, along with a group of French tourists. Gerard, the driver, did have a bit of a problem with the language barrier, but the wildlife spoke for itself - giraffe, rhino, elephant (a whole herd, including a 10-day old calf!), buffalo, lion (3 males, 3 females), impala, waterbuck, nyala, jackals - just about everything! A great day.