#Gorilla vs ape how to
Other great apes, such as orangutans and chimpanzees, suffer at similar rates.įor more than a decade, zookeepers, veterinarians, epidemiologists and others have struggled to figure out why heart disease is so prevalent among captive apes, and how to prevent the animals from developing it. Roughly 70 percent of adult male gorillas in North America have heart disease, and many die prematurely as a result. Although heart disease is nearly absent in wild populations, it’s the leading killer of captive male gorillas around the world. Like many captive male gorillas, Mokolo suffers from heart disease-specifically, fibrosing cardiomyopathy, a condition that turns red, healthy heart muscle into bands of white scar tissue too rigid to pump blood.
Later, he’ll measure the fluid that’s collected around Mokolo's heart cavity to make sure it hasn’t increased, and add the information to a national database. Selig records Mokolo’s heart rate, then pushes a button to capture a photo. Mike Selig, a staff veterinarian, watches the right ventricle flutter open to let in blood, and the left ventricle pump it out. Mokolo holds still.Ī few feet away, a pulsating gray-and-white image of Mokolo’s heart appears on a portable ultrasound machine. “Hold,” says Price softly, rolling an ultrasound probe over Mokolo’s ribs. To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app.
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