Animals Inside Out

Natural History Exhibition - Animals Inside Out 

6^th April – 16^th September

Over Easter while is was in London I went to see the Animals inside out exhibition at the National History Museum. The exhibition exposes the detailed muscle structure and entwining veins under animals’ skins, from a tiny frog to a humongous elephant. It was really interesting, allowing you to discover the ins and outs of 

Each animal’s anatomy, from the nerves to the muscles and how each species varies from another.

To preserve the intricate blood systems within the animals, coloured liquid resin is injected in the main arterial network. When the surrounding tissue is removed from the animal a perfect structure of vessels is revealed. This insight into the animals blood system is truly breath taking. It looks so unreal; you have to keep reminding yourself this is really what is under animal’s skin.

Until this exhibition I had never heard of Plastination. This is a fairly new method, (1977), of preservation created by Dr Gunther von Hagens. Plastination is the extraction of all water and fatty tissues from the specimen and replacing them with polymers in a vacuum. This stops the natural decay of body parts and allows scientists to study the subjects for long periods of time; it is also odourless which makes the process a lot pleasanter.

What I found most interesting were the animals that were sliced into very thin layers. In particular the giant giraffe, in the middle of one of the main rooms, was cut into about 50 pieces. You were able to get very close and examine the transparent pieces; looking at them individually, or from below so you can see all the layers together.

The thin layers of blood and muscles formed intricate patterns, which were very beautiful and to me looked more like a piece of artwork than a body part.

Dotted around the walls in the exhibition were microscopic photographs of animals sliced in half. Theses photographs are incredible and look just like drawings. The detail is truly amazing and it does look like a wafer thin slice taken from inside the animal.

E-mail to Bristol Zoo

So on the 15th of march, (being the early bird and all), I sent Bristol Zoo a very long and detailed e-mail, asking for a work experience placement, and not too surprisingly they e-mailed back the next day with a very short reply...


On to plan B! I may not be able to do work experience but I can still volunteer! Looking on the website I found a few volunteer roles which sound pretty interesting, Children's craft volunteer role, Ranger volunteer and if worst comes to worst gardens volunteer.

I really like the sound of children's craft; "Spend your day being creative in our Activity Centre. It’s run by volunteers and attracts lots of young visitors, so you can get involved in face painting, badge making, brass rubbing, necklace making and other activities."- So basically being creative, friendly and enthusiastic, which I have pretty good practice at, having a younger brother.

But what sounds really good is the Rangers role, "We’re looking for confident people who enjoy talking to the public and are willing to learn lots about lemurs*, butterflies and lorikeets. You’ll be based in the Lemur Walkthrough*, Butterfly Forest or Feed the Lorikeets sections of our new Explorers’ Creek, where you’ll answer questions and make sure both visitors and animals are behaving themselves!" - Sounds good right! I'd love to talk to people about lemurs, though knowing my luck I'll probably be stuck in the Butterfly Forest, and lets be honest, who wants to go there! But I guess it would be better than the Lorikeets as I have no idea if they're even a mammal or reptile, so may be potentially problematic having to answer questions about a, for all I know, fictional animal! (Note self - research needed!)So before Easter I sent off my application form so hopefully should hear back relatively soon, fingers crossed! 

Project brief

So now that I've handed in all my practical work, research and numerous journal scribblings, I find myself at the beginning of a long six week project, with no idea where to start.

Desperately searching for inspiration I look back on my last, and unfinished, project based on photographs taken at Bristol Zoo. It was the first time I'd visited this particular Zoo; and yes, I must confess, I was very sceptical upon arrival, never imagining it would live up to the famous, and somewhat pretentious, London Zoo, or should I say, the Zoological Society of London. The latter is where I spent my childhood, dragging my mother and father around the enclosures, after endlessly begging to my mother to take me there on a sunny bank holiday. However to my surprise I found myself captivated by this smaller and more personal organisation. The main attractions, lions, gorillas and so on were incredibly well laid out, allowing the excitable viewers to get dangerously close to the action. There were also some good interactive zones, where one is allowed to freely walk around the lima or butterfly enclosures. Though I must confess I was a little disappointed when a lima didn't sudden have an urge to climb upon my shoulder and allow me to stroke its back, but there is alway next time.

So I thought, why not apply for work experience at Bristol Zoo? They must need young, enthusiastic students, with absolutely no experience, and studying a degree completely unrelated, right? So this will be my project, following zoo keepers, taking photographs and studying animal activity, what could go wrong!
I shall be documenting my journey throughout, via this blog, though this is just my brief so goodness knows what it will turn out like - here goes!