Photos by students in COMM 1318/Photography 1
The dozen or so critters that call the zoology lab home inside the SPC Wilburn and Helen Wheeler Science Center got a chance to smile and say “cheese” recently.
That’s because photography students were there to practice using their school –issued cameras for the first time.
The students’ instructions were to go to the lab and come away with wide, medium, and closeup shots using the correct camera settings.
Inside the lab, their challenges included a wall of bright windows, glare on terrariums, and moving or sometimes hiding photo subjects.
The Tiger Salamander and the Great Plains Toad turned out to be the most cooperative as well as some of the brightly colored fish.
A frog also appeared to wave from the side of its tank.
According to Kristin Bingham, SPC Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Biology Department, these animals are part of the school’s teaching collection.
“This is one thing that is different about SPC,” Bingham says. “Our students are able to see and be introduced to living animals as they are discussing them in our classes. The goal is to expose students to the diversity of life and allow them to safely and comfortably study and understand these animals as part of our Biology courses.”
Of course, not all of the animals in the lab are alive. There are many preserved animals too who perch on shelves or walls.
Bingham says these animals are part of SPC’s “Natural History Collection”. That, she explains is a collection of preserved organisms, bones and skins.
“Preserved mammal and bird skins,” she says, “have been collected and prepared by various biology professors and as part of certain courses over the past 60 years, and all collections have occurred with the appropriate permits from the state.”
So, if you want to get a better look at any of the animals who sometimes stare back at you inside the lab, register for a zoology class next semester. It’s your chance to get better acquainted.
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