Now 26 years old, Hsing Hsing was initially presented to the United States as a gift from China during the Nixon administration and placed with his mate, Ling Ling, in the National Zoo. Assisted by Dr. Richard Cambre, Chief Veterinarian of the National Zoo and Dr. Lucy Spellman, staff veterinarian at the Zoo, Dr. Siemering removed the cancerous testicle, later found to contain a seminoma, and evaluated the regional lymph nodes, which were found to be free of metastasis.
Full recovery is anticipated.
He is more active than he has been in years and puts on quite a show for zoogoers, especially in the morning around 8 am. As part of the National Zoo's comprehensive primate health monitoring, Dr. Jim McConnell was called upon to perform endoscopy, bronchoscopy, and colonoscopy on four orangutans this spring. The diagnostic procedures were performed to help zoo veterinarians control the recurrent gastrointestinal and bronchial problems to which this species is prone. Orangutans at the National Zoo have become quite popular since new facilities to house them have been completed. As followup, Dr. Seth Koch reports that the Komodo Dragon he operated on early this spring is now visual and plans to resume mating have been made.