We were given three choices in one of our school assignment to visit either a Brazilian Safari, Zoo, or the Instituto Butantan. Well become of proximity reasons, and because I'd rather not get eaten alive in a safari expedition we opted to go see the snakes at the Instituto Butantan. The institute is a Brazilian biomedical research facility located near the university of São Paulo. The faciilty was founded in 1901 in response to outbreak of the bubonic plague in the city of Santos. Since then the facility has become renown for its research and for its development of vaccines against several infectious diseases. Apparently an fire in 2010 destroyed one of the largest collections venomous animals in the world. Although I wasn't able to see the facility in its glory days I was more worried that there were escaped spiders or snakes still running around loose in the park!When Anders and I arrived we checked many of the facilities there including the microbiology lab, and also the place where all the snakes are stored. Right outside one of the facilities they had some snakes that we were allowed to handle. It was a pretty neat experience. The snake that I was holding almost tried sneaking up my shirt. The picture below shows an old microscope that was used many years ago. Technology has come a long ways!
No comments:
Post a Comment