Spring/Summer 2013 Aesculapian Magazine - University of Georgia ...

The collaborative team at Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC) in Cameroon poses for a group photo. Pictured from left: Adam Thompson, a photographer for
Zoo Atlanta; Dr. Pam Dennis, of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo; Dr. Gregg Rapoport, of the UGA CVM; Dr. Ben Brainard, of the UGA CVM; Dr. Ainare
Idoiaga, of LWC; Dr. Hayley Murphy, of Zoo Atlanta; Akih Emmanuel, a veterinary technician at the LWC; Dr. Kyang John Anyam, of LWC; Jennifer Draiss,
a volunteer for the LWC; Javier Daga, manager of the LWC; Dr. Jennifer Glavis, a volunteer for the LWC. Photo by Adam Thompson/Courtesy of Zoo
Atlanta.
measurements were; and, zoos were examining and
managing these animals independently. We relied
on human heart ultrasound values. Occasionally,
I or my colleagues suspected heart disease, but it
was not apparent from our test results. Some earlier
human treatment drugs were risky to use in apes,
since we could not regularly monitor our treated
patients through unanesthetized blood pressure
and ultrasound tests. We did our best, but felt that
more information and coordination was needed.
Meanwhile, in the early 1990s, veterinary pathologist
Dr. Linda Lowenstine (at UC Davis School of
Veterinary Medicine) and others were reporting
unusual patterns of myocardial fibrosis in all four
great ape taxa, which was not similar to any known
form of human heart disease.”
Pathology, McManamon says, can give insight into
trends within and across species. Carefully studying
microscopic cell changes may provide clues to the
underlying cause or causes of that disease. “In human
medicine, examining the heart muscle itself allows
classification of different types of cardiac disease,
and this may help guide treatment. Physicians may
use myocardial (heart muscle) biopsies, an invasive
technique, while the patient is still alive. In apes,
the traditional way to look at the heart muscle
microscopically is when postmortem tests are
performed. By carefully examining those changes,
and correlating them with whatever clinical tests were
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The University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine
performed, we might be able to piece together what
is happening in other living animals, and intervene
earlier to improve and save lives. My belief that
clinicians and pathologists needed to work together
to solve these problems, and my desire to help train
new generations of veterinarians in this holistic way,
led me to join the UGA CVM and to recruit other
professors to the cause.”
A Passion for Collaboration
Great Ape Heart Project Director and Zoo
Atlanta Senior Veterinarian Hayley Murphy leads
the members of the project group. As a veterinary
advisor to the gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP)
and a veterinarian working with gorillas at Zoo New
England, Murphy saw similar patterns of clinical
symptoms in gorillas. In 2000, Murphy started the
Gorilla Cardiac Database (GCD), which focused on
heart disease in gorillas; this effort eventually led to
the idea of creating a larger database to incorporate
heart disease data on all four great ape taxa.
When Murphy joined the staff at Zoo Atlanta and
McManamon came to UGA, both were eager to join
forces and combine their expertise with their passion
for apes in an effort to examine cardiac disease in
all four great ape taxa. (Zoo Atlanta is home to the
nation’s largest zoological collection of western
lowland gorillas and orangutans, and serves as a
center of excellence in research into ape husbandry,