Rats. Lurking in the walls of DHS. Most people hate thinking of the animals in this school. But there are more than a few of them here. Science teacher Coreen Daniels’ IB/AP Advanced Biology HL H class in particular, is infested.
“We dissected the rats to learn about the anatomy of humans and other animals,” senior Julia Ahrns said. “We used the live rats to conduct hormonal and social experiments.”
In order to complete the study, specimens need to be arranged.
“Soldan’s is really cool about it, they supply the rats, and we perform our experiments with them, and we give them any surviving rats or babies,” Daniels said.
Litters in past years have had 22 babies, so Soldan’s usually ends up with more rats than they supply.
Daniels expects Escherichia to have a litter of babies in about a week.
“With written parent permission, the kids in my class can adopt one of the baby rats,” Daniels said.
It isn’t certain if she really is pregnant yet, as she might just be moody and chubby.
If Escherichia is pregnant, the students of Daniels’ class may bring home a furry friend. If the rats aren’t adopted, they’ll go to a good home in Soldan’s.
http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/rat_dissection.html
By Wade Winton
