A Bornean orangutan at Atlanta's zoo has become the first member of his species to participate in an awake cardiac ultrasound.
Zoo Atlanta partnered with sonographers from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for the procedure on 8-year-old Satu. Primate keeper Patti Frazier encouraged consistent behaviors that would enable his voluntary participation in the procedure.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death among great apes in zoo settings. The Great Ape Heart Project is headquartered at Zoo Atlanta seeks to understand, diagnose and treat cardiac disease in gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos.
Zoo Atlanta is home to the nation's largest zoological collection of orangutans, with 13. It also has the largest collection of western lowland gorillas in North America, with 22.
