Dissections: What's the point

WARNING: Somewhat graphic descriptions

During June I had to attend a field trip in Parasitology conducted by my university. The whole point of the field trip was to observe parasites, learn their life cycles and consider how these parasites could potentially affect the host organism. It was a very interesting field trip but not for the faint of heart as a lot of dissections were involved. We were no strangers to dissection. In my second year one of the modules taken by all students was one that familiarized you with a worm and leech dissection, a trout dissection and a rat dissection. Then according to the modules taken you got to do more dissections. Taking Ocean Biology I dissected dogfish, starfish, sea urchins, shrimps and so forth. The point isn't what I dissected though, the point is that some people grew squeamish when they had to deal with mammals while some saw no point and refused to do dissections. To each their own I always say but the whole idea intrigued me. Should dissections be carried on now that we have access to multimedia tools that could easily emulate a dissection and further more reduce animal welfare. Here is my opinion on the matter.

There can only be so much you can learn from a virtual dissection. Things change in animals. When I first performed my first dissection on a rat(Rattus norveticus) I was thoroughly confused. I had looked up manuals and the internal layout of the animal before hand but I found the lungs to be smaller, the intestine to take up much more space than I thought and some parts harder or easier to cut through than I expected. After spending a week dissecting mice and voles in my Parasitology field trip I got less messy and more efficient. I can safely say though that if I were to have a look through the internal structure of the rat online and then dissect I would definitely be surprised by the differences that are present. Not to mention things that get you off guard such as embryos,diseases and most of all the smell.

It could be something that is needed in your line of work. Usually there are specialists about who can perform dissections, forensics and they can determine a cause of death. This is often done to determine if a population is suffering from a disease or parasite, or if a protected species is found dead. Whether you want to be one of those specialists is a different thing all together. However I think that dissections can be vital as you never know what you may come across and how dissections could be a solution to a problem affecting wildlife. If you lack the skill then you may have a harder time determining what's wrong or identifying key issues. Of course each animal has a different anatomy so gaining experience on rats doesn't mean that you can dissect and analyze issues on a deer carcass. However basic skills such as how deep to cut, what to look out for, be prepared for smell, don't puncture the gut and so forth are basic skills that can be applied to any sort of dissection you might come across.

Of course there is the dark side. Animals do have to die for you to learn from dissections. More often than not these animals were to die as they may be part of a control experiment or bred in captivity which means they cannot be released in the wild but the fact is that some institutes actively breed animals for dissection. It's a tough choice to make. By opting to do a dissection then you passively condone to animal killing and welfare. Most institutes do it humanely(or so they claim) and some even use them in sustainable matters. For example we were told that the rats that were dissected were gassed and that they were to be given to a local falconry center after the dissection to feed the birds of prey which I suppose could offer some closure in knowing that the animal have another use after their death. Looking into how your university/institute deals with dissection is a factor that could make you more comfortable with performing one if you really want to do it but feel bad about the animal.

Overall in my opinion I think dissections are a good way to get your hands dirty, learn by acting and enhance your skill set. However it is your own right whether or not you are comfortable in doing them and an alternative option should be provided to those who do not wish to do it. It's up to every individual to decide this for themselves and even if you go ahead with it and you figure out that you cannot stomach it then you should be adamant about stopping right there and now. It's a choice that can be hard on anyone and you should not care what people say or think about you in regards to the matter.