Recently, we discussed the solution to
identifying our individual naked mole rats: microchipping!
The following is a photo story of this procedure.
First, Animal Caretakers Lauren and Maida collect the naked mole rats from their chambers.
Then each mole rat is scanned with the previously chipped animals returned to the exhibit.
The mole rats await the procedure. A lot of squeaking is going on ...
… as Dr. Mass prepares …
… his magic box of tricks.
Next each naked mole rat is weighted and identified,
… logged in,
… and assigned a chip number.
One by one, the naked mole rats are anesthetized.
Dr. Maas carefully implants the microchip.
He applies a little antiseptic glue …
… and places the mole rat in a recovery chamber until it awakens ...
... with Animal Caretaker Katie watching over the recovering patients.
Once revived, the newly microchipped naked mole rats return to the colony, ready to entertain our guests. Come see them!
What kind of information will the microchipping provide?
ReplyDeleteThe microchips will only provide information about which individual we are working with. It will give us certainty in our identifications. Other than a string of numbers, there isn't any other information encoded in the microchips. If you want more info, look at the story linked at the beginning of this post.
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