Veterinarians Remove Enormously Swollen Tongue To Save A Bear's Life
Here's a really weird story I just came across! A few days ago, veterinarians in Myanmar saved the life of a poor bear by removing his tongue!
Why do such a horrible thing? Apparently, the tongue had, for yet unclear reasons, grown so large that it was destroying the bear's life! How big? This big:
The bear right before his tongue was surgically removed (credit)
The tongue weighted approximately three kilos and it had grown so big that the poor creature had to drag it on the ground. Needless to say, eating was almost impossible!
According to Heather Bacon, one of the doctors who operated on the bear, this was quite the medical oddity:
“I’ve worked with bears for over 10 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s pretty astonishing.” said Heather Bacon. [1]
Nicknamed Nyan htoo, or "bright," the Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus) was initially rescued by monks after it was taken away from its mother by Burmese wildlife smugglers.
Since Nyan htoo is less than two years old, the vets think that the hugely swollen tongue was either something congenital or the result of elephantiasis, also known as Lymphatic filariasis, a syndrome caused by parasitic worms marked by severe swelling in various parts of the body. The latter is a bit unlikely as the disease is only known to inflict humans.
"This was a really unusual medical condition — never before seen in any species of bear — but we weren't about to give up on Nyan htoo." said veterinary nurse Caroline Nelson at the Animals Asia's Bear Rescue Centre in Vietnam and Romain Pizzi from Wildlife Surgery International who participated in the surgery. [2]
This is the second time vets try to treat the animal. The first time was a year ago when the tongue much smaller but still way larger then the normal. The first time they only removed some of the excess tissue but the tongue continued to grow and eventually became even larger than before.
As a result, they decided to take a more aggressive approach and remove it all together:
“We had a lot of discussion and debate because it’s a major surgery that you cannot undo but we felt in terms of his quality of life it was the best way to give him as normal a life as possible. Having to carry around 3 kg of tongue is not normal and that’s a lot of weight on his jaw and head. Also, since he was dragging it around on the floor, from a hygiene point of view it’s pretty unpleasant and he couldn’t ever close his mouth. Now he should be able to close his mouth and manipulate food. It’s likely he’ll have a period of learning and adaptation because he’s obviously never experienced this before.” said Heather Bacon. [1]
According to the latest reports, the surgery lasted for over 4 hours and the bear appears to have a good recovery.
"Now, he will be able to eat much more comfortably, sleep in more natural positions and move more freely for the rest of his life." [2]
He looks quite happy with the result, don't you agree?
The tongue-less bear, photo after surgery (credit)
References
- https://www.theguardian.com
- https://www.livescience.com/60758-bear-tongue-swells-to-enormous-size.html
Steemstem & SteemitEducation
Steemstem is the go-to place for science on Steemit. Check it out at @steemstem or visit the #steemSTEM channel. A big thank you also goes to the guys from @steemiteducation for supporting my content!
Greek Community
A final big thanks goes to my fellow greeks for their support and love. Follow the greek-trail or check the facebook page for more greek content!
This is pretty sad, if it were elephantiasis then the veterinarians should have found evidence for the parasitic worms. While the bear looks happier, I can only think how much more difficult swallowing would be with out a functioning tongue.
Yeah the elephantiasis thing sounded weird to me too. Unfortunately I could.find anything more on that other than "Samples of the tongue have been sent in for testing".... Guess we have to wait a few more days to know.
From plastilingus to bearlingus. There's a deeper theme to your stories than just oddity.
Yes there's always something sexual about them!
Really sad to see the suffering!!
at least he is better now ^__^
its so worried. i saw in the pic its Tongue was too big. and saving a life is very kindfull job. tnks for sharing the story @trampman
Allergy would have!
Nah I don't think so. The tongue wouldn't have stayed large for 2 years if it was due to allergies.
Very nice post. Am happy that the bear is ok 😊😊😊 thanks for sharing !!
Thank you for reading :D
Whoa ! At least his life was saved
@minboot resteem this Post .
![](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://www.gif-maniac.com/gifs/31/30895.gif)
Follow me to Resteem!
What a crazy story. Hopefully in studying the tongue itself they can figure out how this happened and maybe in the future if they come up with this again they can treat it. How would he drink though, I wonder? Someone else had said it before, even swallowing will probably be an issue.
tip