UT College of Veterinary Medicine and UT Medical Center collaborated to perform a groundbreaking spinal surgery on a 34-year-old chimpanzee on Sept. 19, 2025. This marked the very first recorded spinal surgery performed on a chimpanzee.
Problems with the male chimpanzee, named Mwelu “Lu,” were first noticed when he was seen having difficulty walking. The Zoo Knoxville vets notified the neurology team of the case. Talisha Moore, a clinical assistant professor of neurosurgery and neurology, was one of the vets who examined the results from the MRI.
“We saw that he had a large mass like lesion that was between his T8,” Moore said. “The thoracic vertebrae eight through his thoracic vertebrae 10. Basically in the area of his mid back.”…