tariqah:

fitchersvogel:

“Veterinarians can’t use regular bandages on animals, because they’ll eat the inedible material. So Jamie Peyton, chief of the Integrative Medicine Service at UC Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital, decided to try wrapping the bears’ paws in fish skin—tilapia skin, specifically. Tilapia skin contains a high amount of collagen, which has been said to speed the healing process and reduce pain. “We made little spring rolls with their feet,” Peyton told the AP. Most stories focused on the bears’ immediate well-being. Are they going to be ok? (Hopefully. Their original habitat was destroyed by the wildfire, but scientists made sure there were supplies for den-building near their release point, and are monitoring the area.) How did the bears not eat the delicious fish skin around their paws? (The skins were dried and wrapped in corn husks or rice paper, so they no longer smelled like fish. Plus, the bandages were helping relieve the bears’ pain, and Peyton said the bears likely noticed that.) If their paws were wrapped in corn husks, were the wraps really like spring rolls, or more like tamales? (Both—Peyton said she referred to their paws “either as ‘tamale feet’ or ‘California bear roll feet.’”) Less obvious in these viral stories, however, were the implications of this successful treatment for burn victims—both human and animal—in the future. The World Health Organization considers burns “a global public health problem” among humans, noting that approximately 180,000 people die every year from burn injuries. Most of those burns are treatable, occurring in low- and middle-income countries that don’t have access to sophisticated skin-grafting care. In addition, veterinarians are increasingly concerned about burn injuries to domestic and wild animals as climate change worsens wildfires. Tilapia is cheap, abundant, and bandages made from it are showing themselves to be effective in both scenarios. Could their scaly skin be the answer?”

— Scientists Saved a Bear With Fish Skin—And Stumbled on a Game-Changing Idea | New Republic (via dendroica)

This is completely fascinating :0

9 months ago / 848 
via: tariqah
src: dendroica
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