Aquadocs

To round out our 4th season of Aquadocs Podcast, Dr. Michelle Greenfield-Feig interviews Dr. Cara Field, medical director for The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito California. Tune in to hear incredible pinniped rescue stories as well as learn about some of the amazing research being completed by Dr. Field and her team.

On this week’s episode of Aquadocs, Dr. Michelle Greenfield-Feig interviews Erica Palmer, a veterinary technician at Mystic Aquarium, about her journey becoming an aquatic veterinary technician. From years of hard work, self-studying, and not being afraid to ask for help and advice from friends and colleagues, she has paved the way to providing high class care for her patients. Plus, stick around to the end to hear her upcoming adventures completing health assessments on Amazon River dolphins.

How do you complete a hearing test on a baleen whale? On this episode of Aquadocs, Dr. Michelle Greenfield-Feig interviews Dr. Craig Harms, professor of aquatic, zoo and wildlife medicine at North Carolina State University, about his fieldwork studies in Norway collecting hearing data on minke whales. The non-invasive hearing tests were conducted by placing sensors on the surface of the whale's skin that allowed a multi-national team of researchers to record the whale's brain waves when it heard a sound. The goal of this research is to better understand the impact of human induced noise on these whales and eventually establish regulatory guidelines to protect these animals.

How do you administer antibiotics to wild whales? On this week's episode of Aquadocs, Dr. Michelle Greenfield-Feig interviews Dr. Martin Haulena, Executive Director of the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society and Vancouver Aquarium Staff Veterinarian about his work rescuing and rehabilitating marine mammals. Tune in as he highlights the amazing work he and his team do to disentangle sea lions as well as some of his field work with sick and injured killer whales and gray whales.

Honoring the life of a beloved pet with a paw print is a beautiful way to remember them. But what happens when your patients have fins and scales? On this week’s episode of Aquadocs, Dr. Michelle Greenfield-Feig interviews Dr. Eric Littman, staff veterinarian for Adventure Aquarium about his novel approach to science communication and art. Tune in to learn about Dr. Littman's artistic process and the way in which he honors both the animal and the teams that have worked so hard to care for them over the years. 

On this week’s episode of Aquadocs, Dr. Greenfield-Feig, interviews Dr. Lara Croft, veterinary scientist over scientific grants programs at Morris Animal Foundation, about the different ways she has positively impacted aquatic animal health within and beyond clinical work. Tune in to learn about the review process for scientific grants. And make sure you stick around to the end to learn about an interesting case where Dr. Croft and her colleagues developed a special milk formula for emaciated manatees.

On this week's episode of Aquadocs, we are discussing all things penguin. SeaWorld San Diego recently successfully hatched a baby emperor penguin for the first time in over a decade. Tune in as Dr. Michelle Greenfield-Feig interviews Dr. Jennifer Russell, staff veterinarian at SeaWorld San Diego, about her experience working with Pearl, the baby penguin, as well as her research studying the ocular anatomy of penguins.

On this episode of Aquadocs, host Dr. Michelle Greenfield-Feig interviews Dr. Jay Sweeney, co-owner and chief veterinarian of Dolphin Quest, about his history in the field of aquatic animal medicine. Tune in to learn about the origins of diagnostic imaging and sampling in marine mammals. And stick around to hear about the unique preventative medicine techniques Dolphin Quest employs as a means of providing high-quality medical care for their animals.

On this week's episode of Aquadocs, host Dr. Michelle Greenfield-Feig interviews Dr. John Griffioen, Assistant Director of Animal Programs and Conservation at the Fort Worth Zoo, about his recent study evaluating the hematologic and biochemical values in Japanese spider crabs (Macrocheira kaempheri). In this episode, we also discuss Dr. Griffioen's AAZV presentation about the wellbeing of non-domestic animal veterinarians. Some of the key takeaways from this presentation include the high levels of stress and burnout in this industry and our collective inability to say "no" when opportunities arise.  This is an important conversation but can be intense at times, so we wanted to be clear about what this episode will include. We hope you'll listen, but if this topic is not for you, we’ll catch you next time on Aquadocs. 

Spider Crab Research Article