Chimpanzees Get Pregnant Despite Males Chimps Having Vasectomies
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 5:21PM It sounds like something out of Jurassic Park.
Female chimpanzees are going on birth control and male chimps are getting another round of vasectomies at a sanctuary in Louisiana after workers discovered two pregnancies they weren't planning on.
The director of the retirement home for research chimpanzees says an employee noticed one of the chimpanzees, Flora, had given birth on Valentine's Day earlier this month.
Linda Brent, the head of Chimp Haven, says that prompted pregnancy tests for seven female chimpanzees. An ultrasound confirmed that 42-year-old Ginger is pregnant and due in the summer.
Brent says five males will get another, more complex vasectomy. She is not sure if at least one of them was able to grow back tubes that were originally cut out or if the initial operation was not done as well as it could have been.
