Dead Pigs Used to Investigate ‘Dead Zones’

There is a recent and rather macabre addition to the marine biologist’s toolkit. Scientists in Canada are using the bodies of dead pigs, diverted from the butcher’s shop, in their undersea laboratory. By ending up in ocean experiments (rather than on the dinner table), the pigs have provided scientists with some intriguing new data. The dead pigs were not my idea, says Dr Verena Tunnicliffe, professor of marine biology at the University of Victoria in Canada. She explained that she and her colleagues were piggybacking on forensics research in order to study low-oxygen zones, sometimes known as dead zones, in the ocean