Korora (Blue Penguin) Dissections

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Lucy Waller from the West Coast Penguin Trust and Marjan Sprock who is a vet and on our school BOT, brought in deceased Korora (blue penguins) which had been handed in and kept in storage (frozen).

Senior students were offered the opportunity to dissect them in pairs, performing autopsies to try and determine the cause of death, investigating stomach contents, learning about their adaptations and determining their gender and their age range and condition at the time of death. This was an amazing opportunity for our students, and hopefully we have also gathered useful data on the population and causes of death. Students were very professional at the task & respectful during the task. Several staff and Cobden School students also came in to observe the event, and Biology Teachers Mr Steggles and Dr Steenhauer assisted students when needed.

Korora dissection student report:

Kyra Johnson

An amazing opportunity to have, thanks to the organisers. Although it could be gory and gruesome at times, it was still very captivating couple of hours. Determining the cause of death of the poor penguin was not as simple as you'd think. Analysing external and internal injuries helped us find out this. Studying their anatomy in a systemic dissection added another perspective to my learning in biology.