Photos and VideosMore Photos and Videos Gorilla Zola, two years
old, gestures in the Leipzig zoo, central Germany, on Saturday,
Sept. 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer) It’s a tricky situation.
Like humans, apes have blood types and can react disastrously to
mismatched donor blood, but unlike humans, great apes aren’t
routinely blood-typed, so finding a suitable donor is very
difficult. Until recently, zoo veterinarians approached
transfusion medicine with good guesswork and crossed fingers,
waiting until they had both the donor and recipient animals
under general anesthesia to test whether they were a blood
match. But new research from the Lincoln Park Zoo might change
the way clinicians approach ape transfusions. Dr. Kathryn
Gamble, director of veterinary services and Jill Moyse,
assistant lead keeper, spearheaded a global effort to type the
blood of great apes – chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and
orangutans – in zoos and in situ facilities, where animals are
managed in their country of origin. Their research,