A necropsy is an animal autopsy, and done properly, it’s careful work. Every sample has to be collected cleanly, weighed, labelled and stored the right way, or the lab results that come back won’t mean much.

That’s why the first course on Kotawân’s new learning platform is all about muskrat necropsy.

The course walks you through the process one step at a time, with short videos filmed during real necropsies. You’ll learn how to set up your table and kit, take measurements, collect tissue and organ samples, and label and store everything so it arrives at the lab in good shape.

A lot of the course focuses on the small things that are easy to forget. Changing your scalpel blade and gloves between samples, for instance. It seems minor, but a blade carried from one tissue to the next can carry contaminants with it and throw off the results for that sample. The course explains why each step matters, not just what to do.

It was built with trappers, youth at muskrat camps and newcomers to the program in mind. If you’ve done dozens of necropsies, you’ll likely move through it quickly. If you’ve never held a scalpel, it’s a good place to start.

When you create an account, the platform keeps track of your progress so you can pick up where you left off. Finish the course and you’ll earn an attestation recognizing your training.

This is the first of several courses. We designed it as a model that we can follow for other fur-bearing animals and other types of samples down the road.