Ultrasound Training Apes

If you would have asked me two years ago if I would ever see myself assisting with an animal ultrasound, I probably would have laughed in your face and said, “not with my naughty apes!” However, if the last year and a half have taught me anything, it is to expect the unexpected.

Ultrasound technology is used in veterinary medicine to provide non-invasive imaging for diagnosing various conditions including soft tissue evaluation, pregnancy monitoring and cardiac assessments. Our on site vet does a fantastic job of helping keep our animals in good health and over the last year and a half has spent a lot of time with the primate team monitoring the pregnancy journeys of Awan and Tara.

Training for these kinds of assessments takes a lot of patience as well as plenty of tasty treats to keep our two girls happy. Oh, and in my case learning my left and rights! When we do this type of training it is usually myself or Jess (Deputy Head of Primates) who is responsible for positioning the probe and rewarding the animal, whilst Georgia (our vet) is directing us to where she wants the probe and also closely monitoring the screen.

Awan

Awan, the Orangutan, was the first ape that we introduced to ultrasound training. She arrived at the park on 10^th July 2024 and as far as we knew had never had any previous ultrasound training done before. Once the tests had been done to confirm her pregnancy we started her ultrasound journey. Orangutans are naturally a solitary animal and lucky for Awan we also had curious Jin who also wanted a piece of the action too! Awan was a natural when it came to the presentation of her stomach and was patient when we needed to get the right angle. We were able to take the baby’s abdominal measurements as well as closely monitor the heart rate too. On 26^th July 2025, we were lucky enough to witness the birth of Tonic, the first orangutan to be born here at the park. Tonic is doing really well and is even starting to climb the mesh by himself now under the watchful eye of mum.

Tara

Tara, the Chimpanzee, is due to give birth any day now to her third baby since arriving here at the park in 2016. She is a fantastic mum already to Elizabeth and Margaret and has the help of her troop as well. This is the first time that Tara has been introduced to the ultrasound equipment and she has done incredibly well with this training. Being a social species, it was a transition for all the troop members as to carry out this training safely we decided to separate Tara into one of the bedrooms.

Being able to capture both experiences has been truly wonderful to say the least. It is incredible to be able to see new life growing and feeling them move around against the probe. Moments that all of us on the primate team will treasure forever. You can watch Tara and Awan’s journeys on our YouTube channel here!

By Holly, Deputy Head of Primates