This Brave Gorilla Just Made History in the Most Extraordinary Way at San Diego Zoo
Medical breakthroughs don't just happen in hospitals. Sometimes they happen in places where the patients weigh hundreds of pounds, communicate without words and belong to one of our closest living relatives. That's what unfolded recently at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, where a critically important surgery not only saved a western lowland gorilla's life but also marked a milestone in veterinary medicine.
The patient was Mizani, a 12-year-old western lowland gorilla who developed a serious infection that spread into part of his skull. Rather than accepting the limited options available, wildlife veterinarians partnered with surgeons from UC San Diego Health to perform what's believed to be the world's first reported mastoidectomy on a gorilla. While the procedure itself is remarkable, the bigger story is what it represents: the growing collaboration between human and wildlife medicine and how those advances can improve care for endangered animals around the world.
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San Diego Zoo Performs World's First Reported Mastoidectomy on a Gorilla
Mizani's journey began earlier this year when caretakers noticed subtle but concerning changes in his behavior. According to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, he became reluctant to fully open his mouth, showed a decreased appetite and displayed signs consistent with head pain. A CT scan later confirmed mastoiditis, an infection affecting the bone behind the ear, along with sinusitis.
Because the infection had spread into portions of his skull, veterinarians assembled a multidisciplinary team that included wildlife specialists from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and ear, nose and throat surgeons from UC San Diego Health. Together, they adapted techniques commonly used in human skull base surgery to perform a delicate five-hour operation that had never before been documented in a gorilla.
"Our surgical team regularly performs complex mastoid and skull base procedures but applying that expertise to a critically ill gorilla required meticulous planning," said Dr. Jeffrey Harris, otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeon at UC San Diego Health. "We're proud to bring this level of specialized care beyond the traditional clinical setting and we are incredibly gratified by Mizani's recovery."
The good news is that Mizani has made an excellent recovery. Following follow-up examinations in June, veterinarians reported no complications, and he has returned to his troop, normal diet and daily routine.
Stories like this highlight the incredible work taking place at accredited zoos. Earlier this year, readers also celebrated the first colobus monkey born at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo in nearly three decades, while another memorable conservation success came when Como Park Zoo introduced baby sloth Cusi to the world. Each milestone represents years of planning, veterinary expertise and conservation efforts working together.
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Why Veterinary Breakthroughs Matter for Endangered Wildlife
Although this surgery may never need to be repeated exactly the same way, its success could have lasting implications for wildlife medicine.
According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), accredited zoos play an important role in advancing veterinary care, conservation science and species survival through research and collaboration. Advances made while caring for endangered animals can also help veterinarians build knowledge that may inform treatment of similar conditions in the future, particularly when few documented cases exist.
Western lowland gorillas are classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) due to habitat loss, disease and poaching. As wild populations decline, gorillas living in accredited zoological institutions contribute to conservation breeding programs, veterinary research and scientific understanding of the species through efforts coordinated by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan Program.
Mizani's case also demonstrates how closely human and veterinary medicine can intersect. While gorillas and humans share many anatomical similarities, surgeons still had to modify established techniques to account for important differences in skull structure, making the operation as much an exercise in innovation as in precision.
It's easy to see headlines about groundbreaking surgeries and focus only on the word "first." But the more meaningful takeaway is what happened afterward. Mizani is back with his troop, eating normally and living the life his caretakers hoped he would. For an endangered gorilla and the team that refused to give up on him, that's the kind of history worth celebrating.
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This story was originally published July 15, 2026 at 3:30 PM.