Moreover, there are quite a few Weddell seals that drown under the ice. Currently, there are about 800,000 Weddell seals in the world. Their normal lifespan is about 20 years. However, because of their suicidal behavior, the average lifespan of all Weddell seals is less than 10 years.
Most of the Weddell seals that died abnormally swam under the ice floes and were suffocated to death.
"Leave it on the ship, and when we return, send it to the Antarctic Animal Rescue Station." Xiang Yang ordered.
The teeth of this Weddell seal have almost all been worn away and its gums are covered in rot. If left unattended, it will be impossible for it to recover on its own from such serious injuries.
"Here, give me the squid and you can have some of this." Chen Qingsheng grabbed a handful of krill and walked to the Weddell seal, placing the krill on the deck next to it.
Krill are so small that Weddell seals can swallow them whole.
The Weddell seal first raised its head and squinted at Chen Qingsheng for a while, then lowered its head and sniffed at the small pile of krill. After making sure there was no danger, it slowly began to eat.
"Brother Yang, why do Weddell seals always like to drill under the ice?" Fang Youqun asked curiously.
Xiang Yang smiled, "Weddell seals love the cold very much. They spend most of their time on the ice. They will bite a hole in the ice to hunt. Because the ice hole is very difficult to bite, they will bite the ice hole again every once in a while to prevent the hole from freezing again. But as you know, the temperature in Antarctica is changeable, and there are blizzards, so the freezing time of the ice hole is not fixed. If you don't control it well, you may be trapped under the ice."
After the Weddell seal slowly ate a few krill, it lay on the deck and closed its eyes in a listless manner.
"Captain, the gums of this Weddell seal are rotten. It basically can't survive until it reaches the animal rescue station. If we want to save it, we have to do it now." Chen Qingsheng said solemnly.
"We save them?" Xiang Yang was stunned for a moment, "Does anyone among you know any medical skills?"
The crew all shook their heads.
Xiang Yang was not disappointed either. He had known this for a long time. There were indeed a few crew members on the ship who knew a little about medicine, but they were only there to treat people. It would really be difficult for them to treat Weddell seals.
Xiang Yang squatted in front of the Weddell seal and used his hands to pry open its mouth. A fishy smell immediately hit his nose.
Xiang Yang's heart sank. The injury of this Weddell seal was more serious than Xiang Yang had imagined. Its teeth were almost invisible, and its gums were purple and black. There were big blisters in some places, and some rotten flesh had completely festered.
"Captain, I think the first thing we need to do now is to clean the festering flesh and then disinfect it. As for the teeth, we can only think of a way after we get to the animal rescue station." Chen Qingsheng whispered.
Xiang Yang nodded, "Give it an anesthetic injection and treat its wound first."
Chen Qingsheng hesitated and asked, "But Captain, who will treat its wound?"
Xiang Yang looked around and all the crew members shook their heads.
If they are asked to do some physical work, they are all good at it, but if they are asked to treat the wounds of animals, this kind of technical work will really make it difficult for them.
"Let me do it." Xiang Yang said.
When he was in school, Xiang Yang also learned some basic rescue knowledge. Although he had never used it, all this knowledge was in Xiang Yang's mind. Now he could only try his best to save the situation.
In 1961, Russian Rogozov was able to perform surgery on himself under extremely simple conditions in Antarctica, proving to the world that humans can conquer nature and the cold and merciless Antarctica. Xiang Yang felt that he could also take on this challenge.
However, Rogozov was a skilled doctor. In 1961, he arrived in Antarctica with an Antarctic scientific expedition team.
After arriving in Antarctica, Rogozov himself fell ill. According to his own judgment, he had acute appendicitis.
If it happened on land, acute appendicitis would be just a minor illness that is not worth mentioning, but on the Antarctic highway, it can easily take a person's life.
Not to mention that the person who fell ill was the only doctor in the entire scientific expedition team.
As the saying goes, a doctor cannot treat himself. At that time, the entire scientific expedition team was in despair. The team leader even took out a pen and paper and asked Rogozov to write a letter to his family, explain his funeral arrangements, and then wait for death to come.
However, under the torture of severe pain, Rogozov chose to save himself. He endured the severe pain and performed surgery on himself without anesthesia.
Rogozov's teammates were all shocked, but rather than watching Rogozov die, the expedition team chose to help Rogozov fight together.
The operating room was located in an extremely simple Antarctic camp. The attending physician was the patient himself, and his assistants were an engineer and a meteorologist.
Rogozov lay on the hospital bed. After disinfecting himself, he used a scalpel to cut open his abdomen. At that time, no one dared to breathe, because it was difficult to operate on Rogozov while he was lying down, so a simple acute appendectomy was extremely difficult.
In addition, the mirror set up by the assistant engineer on Rogozov's abdomen reflected the opposite image, which made the operation more difficult. Rogozov could only keep groping for his organs in his abdominal cavity with his hands to find his appendix.
Halfway through the operation, Rogozov became very weak due to excessive blood loss and severe physical exhaustion. He had to stop to rest every four or five minutes. At that time, the blood almost dyed the entire quilt red.
However, it was under such circumstances that Rogozov underwent a complete appendectomy and then sewed himself up with needle and thread.
After the operation, Rogozov recovered rapidly. In just two weeks, he was able to walk again and resume his normal work.
Compared with Rogozov's superb medical skills, Xiang Yang's medical theory is undoubtedly still at the level of theoretical feasibility.
But compared with Rogozov's operation at that time, Xiang Yang's operation was much less difficult.
At least Xiang Yang's operation is theoretically feasible.
At that time, Rogozov's operation was not feasible in theory. However, that operation was a miracle in the history of world medicine.
Even Rogozov himself recalled that if he were allowed to do it again, he might not succeed.
After returning to Russia, this incident caused a huge sensation at the time, and Russia even awarded him a medal.