Writtle College Animal Science lecturer, Nieky van Veggel,
was part of the dissection team during last week’s student seminar. Here he
discusses the experience and the benefits to our students.
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This year we had a truly unique experience on the timetable:
Writtle College lecturers Jarmila Bone and Nieky van Veggel and third year BSc
(Hons) Animal Science student Ed Church organised a live demonstration
dissection of an American Alligator. To top it all off this dissection was
performed in the Northumberland Lecture Theatre, giving 170 curious students
and staff an opportunity to experience this fascinating dissection up close. Attendance
was overwhelming, with interest shown by Higher Education (HE) and Further Education
(FE) students across disciplines, ranging from horticulture and conservation to
equine and animal science. In addition, we were fortunate to have alumni and
staff in attendance, as well as students from other HE and FE institutions.
The dissection itself was a very interesting experience. The
alligator in question used to belong to a private collection and had died
unexpectedly. Although her death was unfortunate, it did enable us to provide
the audience with a great and unique learning experience. It really was a
fascinating opportunity for students to witness an exotic dissection such as
this first hand.
Finally, I think events like this demonstrate the wide
variety of activities the College, and the School of Sport, Equine and Animal
Science, organises. We’re really looking forward to running similar events like
this in the future, so watch this space!”