The previous week for students of the School for Field Studies program was dedicated to veterinary sciences. Lectures and exercises covered topics such as manipulation and clinical examination of sea turtles, sea turtle care and therapy administration, the most common pathologies and their treatment, infectious, non-infectious and parasitic diseases, diagnostics and sampling of sea turtles for laboratory analysis.

 

As part of these activities, students also had the opportunity to participate in tagging sea turtles with satellite transmitters. Okti, a young loggerhead turtle found by underwater fishermen near the island of Male Srakane, was suffering from a respiratory infection, while Mara was found floating in the port of Veli Lošinj, entangled in plastic strings that prevented her from moving and feeding. After a successful months-long recovery at our Sea Turtle Rescue Centre, the students tagged them with satellite transmitters, all with the purpose of tracking their movements after being released.

 

To get better acquainted with the local culture and heritage, besides a Croatian language class, the students took a short trip to Osor where they visited the Osor Archaeological Collection, the oldest museum institution on the islands of Cres and Lošinj. In the museum, they saw items made of ceramics, glass, metal, and various sculptures found during excavations of the city walls and the Illyrian-Roman necropolis in the 19th century. Arguably the most interesting part of the visit was the Osor Time Machine, where students, using virtual and augmented reality technology, got to experience everyday life in Osor and its surroundings from its prehistoric beginnings, through antiquity to the Middle Ages. The experience included a walk through Osor, and at designated locations, students activated their VR glasses and immersed themselves into the past.