so that we could slice them finely, for staining. The particular method of sacrifice, which was the working euphemism for killing, was a really gruesome approach called perfusion, where the chest was sliced across laterally at the aorta so the heart could exsanguinate the animal
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
The animals had to be alive for this, but they were deeply deeply and irreversibly anaesthetized, so while it was horrible to watch they didn't feel it. The in vivo monitoring was much worse I think.
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
The protocol here involved monitoring (i) certain discrete regions of the bird's brain, in real time, using implanted wires; and (ii) tracking their (sometimes silent) production of song by measuring air pressure in their lungs.
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
in order to do (i), we performed surgery that involved slicing off the top of the animal's skull; implanting a microelectronic array that included a protruding chip you could plug into a monitor wire; then resealing the brain with a cement.
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
for (ii), we created a sort of miniature backpack for the bird. a flexible plastic tube led from the backpack to the bird's side, where there was an incision that led to the lung. The tube was stitched in place . . . badly.
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
The birds wore the backpacks/tubes full time and always had the chip sticking out of their replacement skull. When we monitored their behavior, they were placed in special boxes where a wire ensemble on a swivel was plugged into their chip. They spent long stretches like this.
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
So this is already pretty grotesque on paper. We were really diligent about pain--you know, birds in pain don't sing, and give bad data in any case. But things frequently went badly.
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
Basically, the apparatus was not well designed. Sometimes the skull cap just fell off, leaving a bird hopping around unattended with an exposed brain. Sometimes the pneumatic tube would come out, leaving an unattended bird with a sucking chest wound.
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
In those cases--I don't remember, I think we would usually just come back to find a dead bird. A tube once came out when I was in the lab. I was not qualified or able to put it back in, and after some panicking recalled the protocol was to kill the bird.
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
So, for that, procedure was (i) to knock out the bird with gasseous anaesthetic, really hardcore knock out; and then (ii) decapitate it in the sink with a medical scissors. Which I did. Home, drink.
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Another time, for some reason, we had to put a bird down in the colony (which was in another building). This was probably the worst killing. They didn't have anesthetic available at the colony, and there were no tools for a quick death available.
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
What they *did* have was a machine that generates carbon dioxide in a sealed chamber. The thing about carbon dioxide is that (contra carbon monoxide) is that it doesn't put you to sleep; it just suffocates you. There are horrible stories of slave indigenous miners . . .
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Replying to @eigenrobot @cunningcorvid
in the Andes falling into low spots in silver and mercury mines (full of CO2, because no air circulation, and CO2 is dense) and everyone standing at the side watching them suffocate. And this was the initial approach to killing Jews et al in Poland, but the executioners . . .
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