Posted: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009
ATLANTA One of the gorillas at Zoo Atlanta has been under pressure lately. Zoo keepers, along with undergraduate students from Georgia Tech and reseachers from Emory University, got a western lowland gorilla named Ozzie to voluntarily have his blood pressure taken by a machine students designed called the Gorilla Tough Cuff. Zoo officials say it's the first time a gorilla has ever voluntarily had its blood pressure taken in any zoo in the world.
Zoo keepers trained Ozzie for months on how to use the cuff before he did it on his own. Zoo officials say the machine can be used to detect heart problems in aging gorillas like Ozzie, who is 48 years old.
Disclaimer
The Charlotte Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since charlotteobserver.com does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The Charlotte Observer.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.