COOL SCHOOL: Yesterday, we went on a neat-o field trip down to Des Moines (about a half hour south and west of our daily 'campus.' Our destination was the Marine Science and Technology Center. It's not just on the waterfront, it's actually on piers above the water!
Below is a view of the back of the lab and classroom building, from further out on the pier.
We learned lots about what happens at the marine center, as well as about marine mammals, in general.
CJ can tell you a bit more about that ...
On December 5th, 2018, I participated in an exercise where I, along with two others, had to hypothesize the cause of death of two marine mammals (a sea lion and a toothless whale) based on their skeletons.
First, we were shown the skeleton (hung from the building's ceiling) of the sea lion, and asked to hypothesize as to the creature's cause of death (COD.) Rather quickly, my group noticed that a large section of the otter's ribcage (on both sides) was missing, so we suspected that it was bitten in that area by an orca (or other large, toothed creature.) Eventually, we were told that the sea lion was killed by an orca, but using blunt force. This is known because of the testimonies of multiple witnesses.
Afterwards, we were tasked with investigating the potential COD of a whale, again, judging by a skeleton hanging from the ceiling. For the most part, the skeleton seemed to lack (visible) signs of injury, and we were stumped. Eventually, we were informed that the whale's COD is actually unknown, though there are a number of hypothesizes as to what killed the whale (including drowning, malnourishment, disease, injury, or some combination thereof.)
Later, in our classroom, we were tasked with reviewing short informative papers related to the death of an orca in the Seattle area in February 2012. Different students were handed different papers, and asked to infer information from the papers. I was assigned the role of a "pathologist," meaning I studied diseases (parasites, bacteria, viruses, fungi) found in the orca's corpse. I discovered that a parasite was present in the orca's brain, which, by the time the orca's corpse was found, had turned to liquid. I was under the belief that the parasite caused brain damage, resulting in the death of the orca. Eventually, it was revealed to us that while the exact COD of the orca was unknown, most guesses involved blunt force trauma to the orca's head, which would result in its death.
His baleen almost looked like a mustache.
Following, Annabelle tells a bit more about the center.
Highline College MaST (Marine Science and Technology) Center is a rather small facility located on the coastline in Des Moines. The building isn't very flashy or obvious from the outside, but once you step inside you'll be greeted by dozens of extremely well-preserved skeletons of many marine mammals. In fact, these skeletons were part of our activity later that day. These line the main hallway, which offshoots into multiple classrooms and laboratories, only one of which we entered.
This building actually stands on a pier over Puget Sound, and further down said pier is the center's own small aquarium. The aquarium has many species of fish native to the Northwest, including a Wolf Eel and a Giant Pacific Octopus. While (as mentioned before) somewhat puny in size, it's definitely worth visiting. The MaST Center is open to the public on Saturdays from 10 AM to 2 PM and runs almost entirely on donations, so please pitch in what you can!After the class, we visited the aquarium. It's small, but there are many creatures to check out.
Casper is the resident Pacific octopus.
There are special events at MaST throughout the year. We'll definitely be going back there.
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