Reader’s Digest Australia & New Zealand – May 2019

78 | May• 2019

hamsters,guineapigsand
thelike),witha coupleof
daysallocatedtoreptiles
andbirds,andmaybethe
oddhourtoamphibians
andfish.
Thismayseemwoefullyinade-
quate,butata conservativeestimate,
thereare8.7milliondifferentspe-
ciesontheplanet,soinanytypical
degreecoursewewouldhaveless
than 18 secondsperspeciestolearn
everythingthereistoknowabout
theiranatomy,physiology,behaviour,
therapeuticpharmacology,medicine,
surgery,dentistry,endocrinology,
oncologyandreproduction.Howev-
er,thebiggestpartofthejobiscare,
compassionandcounselling.
Forthoseingeneralpracticethere
areseveralskillswehavetolearnto
mitigatethisknowledgedeficit.
Firstly,thereistheprincipleofan-
imal comparisons. For example, to

mostintentsandpurpos-

es,youcantreata rabbit

asifitwerea miniature

horse: they are both

hind-gut fermenters,

doingmostoftheirdiges-

tionintheircaecum[apouchinthe

largeintestine],andhavehypsodont

teeth,meaningthattheirteethcon-

tinuallygrow.Alpacasandllamasare

bothruminantslikecattleandsheep,

andferretssharemanycharacteris-

ticswithdogs.And,ofcourse,ifall

elsefails,there’salwaysGoogle...

I’veoftenbeen askedwhatthe

strangestanimalI’veeverseenin

theconsultingroomwouldbe.There

area fewcontenders– a Cubanfrog,

asugargliderandaskunkwould

probablymakethetopten– butone

consultationforeversticksinmy

memory;anarmadillo.

“How do you microchip an

armadillo?”

L-R:Xi-Xithepanda

wascajoledinto

havingherphoto

takenwithbamboo

shoots; an armadillo

PHOTOS: COURTESY JONATHAN CRANSTON