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Three elderly Humboldt penguins from Singapore’s Jurong Bird Park have been fitted with custom-made eye lenses during surgery to remove cataracts in what is believed to be a world-first method to improve their sight.
The elderly penguins developed cataracts and started having difficulty seeing things in front of them.
According to a statement from the Mandai Wildlife Group, vets said the birds were among six elderly penguins to undergo cataract surgery two months ago and have since made a full recovery. The ages of three penguins who are operated upon are 20 and older. The other three are from 7 to 13 years old.
The three elderly penguins had cataract surgery in December, during which vets removed the cloudy lenses caused by cataracts, Singapore’s Mandai Wildlife Group reportedly said.
“We noticed the cloudiness in their lens and moving about like they were having difficulty seeing things in front of them,” said Ellen Rasidi, a vet with the Mandai Wildlife Group.
The surgeries were a little more complicated for the elderly penguins because penguins have three eyelids. This third eyelid protects penguins’ eyes underwater. They were fitted with lenses from Germany that took two months to make, based on precise measurements.
“The success of these surgeries marks a milestone in veterinary medicine. While intraocular lens implants are common for humans and some domestic mammals, it is likely the first time they have been successfully used on penguins,” Gladys Boo, the veterinary ophthalmologist who led the surgeries, reportedly said.
“As a larger species, the king penguins have eyes large and stable enough to hold the custom lenses in place, so we decided to pursue this world-first procedure to further improve their vision above removing the cataract,” she added. The Mandai Wildlife Group manages some 21,000 animals, comprising almost 1,000 species, across four wildlife parks in Singapore.
