Quest: Mountain Gorillas: Discovery Channel

Update on Mushya

In recent weeks, Mushya has taken me on a roller coaster ride. I've been visiting Isabukuru Group regularly to check on him and his mother, Icyizere. He's looked better each time, yet his fragile condition has worried me.

Only now, five weeks after treatment, am I convinced that he'll survive, at least in the short term. The reason: Icyizere. She is strong and active — and producing more milk. None of us imagined that one dose of ivermectin would make such a difference, especially since we hadn't believed that she herself was ill. Mushya had been our target.

Rechecking Mushya

During my recheck of Mushya and Icyizere the day after the intervention, I kept an eye out for fresh fecal samples. We wanted to follow the pattern of parasites now that we’d given the ivermectin. Icyizere had conveniently produced several samples within minutes of my arrival in the group. I’d brought one of them back to the lab for microscopic examination. I found — no surprise — that it was still loaded with parasites. But I had the impression that there were many more worm fragments than whole ones. Maybe the ivermectin had already killed some of the adults.

Mushya: Lab Work and Follow-Up

After a brief break for lunch, Magda, Jean Felix and I met back in the lab to evaluate Mushya’s case. We spent the next five hours doing all we could to process and run the gorillas’ samples, but we ran out of energy before we could finish. I think we also felt a bit deflated when we didn’t find mites in the hair or skin samples.

But we did discover one new, important fact: Icyizere was anemic, too, although not as severely as Mushya. This meant the mother's health could also be a factor, something we hadn't suspected.

Hands-on With Icyizere and Mushya

Magda, Jean Felix and I met to map out our intervention plan for Mushya. We would anesthetize only the mother to start with, then evaluate the infant as quickly as possible. I preferred not to anesthetize him unless absolutely necessary. His pale mucous membranes worried me. We couldn't draw many conclusions from a simple skin scraping, however. We'd need to perform as complete a work-up as possible. Our goal would be to collect as many routine samples from Mushya as possible, including blood, urine, feces and a skin biopsy.

Itchy Infant

As we hiked the trail to Isabukuru Group, I didn't feel very optimistic. It was my turn to check on Mushya, a 10-month-old infant of a first-time mother. The baby had steadily been losing body condition, and Karisoke trackers now reported that the male baby seemed suddenly weaker and was losing more hair.

Hopeful Signs for 2009

  One of our project's main goals is to promote a healthier environment for people as well as gorillas. This is the one-health medicine concept. We can prevent medical problems in the gorillas by preventing problems in other species, including domestic animals, other wildlife and humans — even entire ecosystems.

Sad Week in Rwanda

Forgive me for not blogging over the last few weeks, and for returning with a sad report about the deaths of several gorillas. We didn't have the opportunity to treat these individuals, but we did do post-mortem exams on three of the four. If the rule-of-threes holds, the good news is we won't have another dead gorilla for a while. The first two deaths were newborns.

Good News in DR Congo (Amidst All the Bad)

Four days before the fighting in DR Congo escalated, Magda (Dr. Braum) made a routine visit to check on the orphan gorillas in Goma. I knew Magda's visit had gone well. Thanks to Linda Nunn at G4G and Jodi Carrigan at Zoo Atlanta, Mapendo, Ndeze and Ndakasi each got five new toys! But until this past weekend, I hadn't looked at these photos.

Security Concerns

The other night I was one of several guests at a small dinner party in Rwanda. It had rained all day — and most of the previous night — but the skies had cleared about an hour before dark. It was the first time in weeks I'd driven up the road to park headquarters, having been on a break in the U.S. to promote Ted's and my new book. I drove slowly, swerving to avoid bicycles, pedestrians, goats, mini-buses and the occasional pollution-belching truck.

Another Wire Snare (Part 2)

Benard and I left early for our new snare case. We were on the road to the ranger station at 6 a.m., hoping to catch up with the gorillas by 9 or so. Any time we intervene with anesthetic, it’s best to get an early start. We need time to get the dart in, perform the procedure and wake the patient up; and in this case, tourists would be arriving by late morning.