UC students help orangutans stay heart healthy

But it’s not easy giving a physical to an animal that’s stronger than four NFL linebackers. Staff at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden always keep a barrier between themselves and the great apes for safety.

To check vital statistics, zookeepers conditioned western lowland gorillas to slip their arms into a blood pressure cuff in a custom machine enclosed in a sleeve. But the machine was designed for the burly arms of a silverback gorilla, not the skinny, lanky ones of an orangutan. So the zoo turned to engineering and industrial design majors at the University of Cincinnati for a solution.

Students used measurements of the zoo’s great apes to build custom 3D-printed inserts tailored to the arm sizes of the orangutans, bonobos and smaller juvenile gorillas.

“Great apes suffer from similar ailments as we do along with unique ones,” primate zookeeper Theresa Clyatt-Larson said. “Like humans, male gorillas and orangutans are at risk of heart disease.”

Cardiovascular illness is a concern for zoos around the country so partner zoos created the Great Ape Heart Project, a collaboration of veterinarians, pathologists and researchers who are studying disease and treatments to improve the health and welfare of animals.

The Cincinnati Zoo monitors the apes’ blood pressure to look for early warning signs. Many other zoos take blood pressure readings while animals are under anaesthesia.

For the orangutan project, Jack Buehler and Andie Ticknor, both industrial design graduates in UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, teamed up with UC mechanical engineering graduate Ben Merk in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science.

The UC students had some experience working for an unusual target audience. Previously, they were tasked with designing animal enrichment, such as toys or games, for the zoo’s giraffes as part of an interdisciplinary UC Forward class. Students learn more about the animals from the experts and design, produce and test prototypes in coordination with the zoo.

DAAP grad Buehler has been going to the Cincinnati Zoo since he was a child. The design class project was similar to industrial design co-ops Buehler had at UC in that the goal is making the client happy. But in this case, they had to consider multiple audiences, he said.

“The primary user is the animal, which is different from most clients because you can’t ask them questions. The other person you’re designing for is the zookeeper. You want the device to be easy to use and maintain,” he said.

And with the giraffe project, the third group they considered were zoo visitors. The students used clear acrylic so visitors could see the giraffe’s amazing tongue at work through the viewing windows of the giraffe barn, Buehler said.

“It’s fulfilling to see an idea you brainstormed with your friends in your apartment become a real product that can help giraffes and orangutans,” Buehler said. 

At UC, Buehler had internships at toy company Fisher-Price and games, puzzles and teaching tools company PlayMonster. Students in co-op go to classes part of the year and work part of the year to get on-the-job experience in their field.

“That’s the awesome part of DAAP’s co-op program. It’s cool to work on real-world projects in co-op,” Buehler said. “We have so many different connections around the city. I can be introduced to a nontraditional project like with the zoo.”

Today, Buehler is pursuing a career in toy design, adding to UC’s reputation in the field. UC alumnus Mark Boudreaux, another industrial design major in DAAP, designed “Star Wars” toys, including the Millennium Falcon, in his 40 years with Kenner and Hasbro.

“With toy design, you might have a bad day at work, but you’re still designing rocket ships,” Buehler said.

Featured image at top: An orangutan at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Photo/DJJAM Photo/Cincinnati Zoo