Meet Pierre
Pierre is a 54-year-old chimpanzee who lives at Chimp Haven in Louisiana, the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in the world. A sanctuary is a safe place where animals can live out their lives. Pierre had become completely blind because of cataracts, a cloudy layer that forms over the lens of the eye.
Months of training for one hour of surgery
In humans, cataract surgery is common: doctors swap the cloudy lens for an artificial one. With a chimp, the tricky part is what comes after, like putting in eye drops every day. So Pierre's longtime trainer, Mary, taught him to press his face gently against the mesh of his enclosure and keep his eyes open, using sound cues and plenty of his favorite treats.
The operation took about an hour, and it worked.
A happy ending
- Within hours he was reacting to what he saw and watching one of his favorite movies.
- Within days he was back with Jill, one of his best chimp friends.
- He rejoined his group earlier than his carers expected.
What do you think was the first thing Pierre wanted to look at?
Source: Popular Science
