SHERI MYLER: Day One

Sheri Myler, our student who is doing a series of placements with us over the next year or so is back for her second stint. Once again, I am putting her to work and she will be blogging each day about her time here...

Day 1 – Saturday

My first official day of work back at the CFZ began with the realisation that I had forgotten the cable for my netbook and, so, could only get a couple of hours use out of it. As it transpired, this was more than necessary.

After I had written up an introductory blog about arriving back in Woolfardisworthy, Max and I set about the animal routine. During this, there was some discussion on viviparous fish and the benefits of having algae in their tanks. The main downside is the lack of aesthetic appeal.

We then discovered that, during the night, tragedy had struck. It was something of a conundrum at first, when we found one hen dead and couldn’t find the other at all. However, some of the wire was seen to be loose and it was concluded that a fox had taken the missing hen and the other had died from the shock of it. It was then discovered that one of the amphiumas had also perished. The hen was buried and the amphiuma is to be preserved.

Live feed was procured from the nearest pet store, before Max and I filmed taking fin samples from some preserved fish and one live one (to act as a control), to analyse their DNA and genetically determine their species. This task allowed me to increase my knowledge on preserving DNA. We then cracked on with the two volume George Eberhart encyclopaedia until about nine, when we had tea.

The final task of the day was the cat hunt. It was only a relatively short one, but was the most dramatic so far. Only a few minutes into the drive, our hearts all stopped as we saw a large, sleek black animal walking down the road, its big eyes aglow in the headlights. I pressed record on the video camera but have no idea what I pointed it at as I was too busy staring out of the window at this creature elegantly strolling towards us. A second passed. It was a dog. Its colour, its shape, even its gait were so cat-like. These kinds of dogs will be the culprit behind many big cat sightings, both locally and in wider Britain. When I look back on this incident, I remember it as a cat. This is quite an important discovery in alien big cat research.