Joe Franklin @ Franklin Park Zoo * Happy 17th Brithday

Little Joe the gorilla gets a flu shot

Franklin Park Zoo’s new baby tapir is as sweet as Tupelo honey - The Boston Globe

Franklin Park Zoo’s new baby tapir is as sweet as Tupelo honey - The Boston Globe



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Gigi, age 36, becomes zoo's first gorilla to undergo colonoscopy

By Andrew Ryan
Globe Staff / November 7, 2008

At 36, Gigi is the oldest gorilla at the Franklin Park Zoo. Like a human in her golden years, her advancing age has been a blessing and a curse, a source of wisdom and a cause for increasingly invasive medical tests.

Earlier this week Gigi became the zoo's first gorilla to undergo a colonoscopy, a test very familiar to humans getting on in years. That's why veterinarians turned to physicians from Brigham and Women's Hospital to help perform the procedure.

"We like to provide the best possible care," said Dr. Eric Baitchman, associate veterinarian at the zoo. "We utilize medical doctors - human physicians - for many different problems with our gorillas."

Physicians assist in procedures at the zoo several times a year. Two noted gynecologists, for example, assisted in the treatment of Mandy the mandrill, a primate who died in March after developing a uterine tumor.

Those same gynecologists were on the team of more than 20 medical doctors, veterinarians, and zookeepers who helped perform a battery of tests on Gigi, which included the colonoscopy, an abdominal ultrasound, and X-rays. The lowland gorilla had some digestive problems last week, and the tests, which appeared normal pending biopsy results, allowed her caretakers to rule out tumors and polyps.

"We like to be proactive," Baitchman said.

cuttle fish

"...as adept as a cuttle-fish in beclouding an issue he cannot meet..."

-Robert Bagnall, concerning someone he clearly despised.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuttlefish