Long day

Quick update after a long day. We did a complete necropsy (animal version of autopsy) today. A long and difficult procedure, the final results of which will take months. The tissues are placed in formalin and frozen, and will be brought back to our pathologist in the US next time Mike goes back to the states. Lots of permit/paperwork for this critically endangered species to be moved from his country of origin. I learned today that Titus was the oldest silverback with known birth date. 35 years old.

Ihumure is not doing well. He is weak, but does seem to be staying with the male group. In fact today Magda saw one of the blackback males defend Ihumure when Rano charged into the group. This is a good sign, if Ihumure can hang in there. We made the decision to attempt to treat him for a variety of potential causes for his weakness today, in the most non-invasive way we could. He was darted with antibiotic, antiparasitic and anti-inflammatory drugs. This remains a very, very difficult situation from a medical and ethical perspective. If we attempt to do a full intervention (anesthesia, sampling, fluid therapy, etc.) the group may leave - they are so unstable right now. If they leave, and he is still weak, we may not be able to successfully reintroduce him to the group once he recovers from anesthesia. If we don't do a full anesthesia, we may never know what is the cause of his weakness, and we still may lose him. So after long discussions with Veronica from Karisoke, we decided to try the least invasive "shot gun" method of giving him a chance. Trackers will watch him carefully tomorrow, while his father is being buried near Dian Fossey.

That's it for now. I think I'll watch an episode of "House" tonight - feeling the need to escape a bit....