Every time I prepare food for our raptors, I feel like I'm back in my high school anatomy class during a dissection lab. Mice, rats, and quail, freshly thawed from the freezer, are carefully prepared to make a safe meal for our birds. The digestive system - from stomach to intestines - can harbor harmful bacteria so these organs are removed and dumped in our "gut bucket." I carefully work the dissecting scissors around the liver and kidneys to leave them in place. These other organs are part of a raptor's balanced diet and tend to be a preferred portion.
I've gutted many mice over the years and these dissections have become routine. But every once in a while I find a surprise. While opening up a rather fat-looking mouse recently, I expected to see thick layers of white fat under the skin. Instead, the mouse's abdomen was filled with a string of red, gloopy spheres. This mouse wasn't fat. She was pregnant.
I extracted one fetus whose limbs from head to tail were partially formed. I could even count its toes. I cycled through a string of emotions, in an instant feeling shocked, sad, and a little grossed out. But I think I finally landed on amazement at this rare glimpse at a mouse's early stage of development.
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