Great care for great ape: Western lowland gorilla Lily undergoes physical exam

Ensuring our great apes get the greatest care is always a top priority here at the Buffalo Zoo.

There’s no better example of that than when it’s time for our western lowland gorillas to undergo their physical exams, like our younger female Lily did last week.

With a team of nearly 20 professionals overseeing and assisting during the exam, our veterinary team was able to get an up close look at the 25-year-old gorilla.

Physical exams are as important in animals as they are for humans. They allow for routine care and can help with early detection of illnesses, allowing for more effective management.

Exams for our gorillas take place every three years, meaning there was plenty of boxes to be checked during Lily’s. Blood collection, administering vaccines, tuberculosis testing and dental work were among the many tasks undertaken by our vet team.

One of the more notable parts of the exam was a cardiac ultrasound. Cardiovascular disease and sudden cardiac events are common, and often fatal, issues that plague many different great apes, including gorillas. The Great Ape Heart Project is one of the leading organizations investigating the trend, and the Buffalo Zoo is proud to support their work.

Data collected from Lily’s ultrasound will be provided to the Great Ape Heart Project, with the hope that they can use it to better understand heart disease in great apes.

Our vet team was also able to get an excellent look at what’s going on inside Lily through ultrasounds and radiographs. The Buffalo Zoo’s new digital radiography system, which was obtained thanks to a generous grant from the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, allowed for images to be presented in better detail and more efficiently than ever before.

Western lowland gorillas can live well into and beyond their 40s in human care, and the goal is to help ensure Lily can continue to thrive for decades to come. With her species critically endangered in the wild due to poaching, disease and deforestation, the Buffalo Zoo will continue to work to save these incredible animals and promote conservation efforts.

While it will be a while until all the results of Lily’s tests come back, there were no obvious abnormalities detected during her physical exam. She is now back in our gorilla habitat alongside Sidney and Babatunde, where she can be seen daily!