The Galápagos Science Center, Ecuador

This opportunity will allow clinical year veterinary students to experience a unique, equatorial archipelago and much of its natural history and cultural offerings.  The Galápagos Science Center (GSC) will serve as the base of operations.  Dr. Gregory Lewbart, who has worked at the facility 25 separate times, will be the program leader and guide, assisted by Dr. Diane Deresienski. Local and visiting scientists will assist him.  Lectures, laboratory sessions, and learning excursions will cover a wide variety of zoological and medical topics dealing with native invertebrates, fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals. 

The NC State team will work closely with the staff of the Galápagos Science Center (GSC) and the Galápagos National Park (PNG). Drs. Lewbart and Deresienski, assisted by the GSC staff, will make all travel, lodging, and board arrangements during our stays in Guayaquil, Quito and in the Galápagos.  Here is a link to the GSC, a partnership initiative, between the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the University of San Francisco in Quito (USFQ): http://galapagosscience.org/

Learning Outcomes: What You Will Learn

• Understand techniques of safe capture, restraint, physical examinations, and how to obtain diagnostic samples from multiple species including sea turtles, marine iguanas, sea lions, fishes, and marine invertebrates.
• Describe the main anatomical and physiological attributes of the species listed above.
• Understand the main health challenges, both natural and anthropogenic, to the species listed above.
• Explain the logistics involved with permits and protocols necessary to sample protected species in a foreign country.
• Describe the challenges of practicing veterinary medicine with restricted resources and support.
• Describe the benefits and drawbacks of living and working on small, sparsely inhabited islands, where tourism is a key economic driver. 

For 3 days we will work in field and laboratory doing research and collecting data for approximately 10 hours each day.  Students are heavily engaged with hands on work and responsibilities. The other 3 full days will be more leisurely with excursions to important natural history, cultural, and wildlife locations in the Galápagos archipelago.

We will be spending all of our nights in comfortable, commercial hotels.  In Guayaquil we will use the four-star Airport Holiday Inn and in Galápagos the three-star Casa de Nelly.   All costs for this trip, including the Guayaquil hotel, flights to the Galápagos and back, hotels in Galápagos, meals, excursions, research visa, and other fees are included in the cost of the trip.  The student is only responsible for the flights from the USA to Guayquil and a modes $20 Galápagos entry fee.

Avenida Alsacio Northia S/N
200101
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
Ecuador