Giant anteater using continuous glucose monitor after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes
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World's first known case of the condition in this species at Edinburgh Zoo.
A giant anteater has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes – after staff at Edinburgh Zoo noticed they were experiencing symptoms similar to humans that develop the condition.
Nala, a female giant anteater residing at the zoo, is now fitted with a blood glucose monitor to help manage her condition – a device also used by humans with type 1 diabetes.
Vets and keepers at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) are now managing the first reported case of diabetes in a giant anteater.
Nala appeared on the BBC Scotland series, Inside the Zoo, earlier this year exhibiting the same symptoms as people do before being diagnosed with the condition.
Nala (pictured) with her continuous glucose monitoring device.
Dr Stephanie Mota, resident veterinary surgeon at RZSS said: “Keepers first discovered something was wrong when Nala was losing weight despite eating the same amount, or sometimes even more, than usual.
“We carried out a full health check under general anaesthetic, running lots of tests and found that Nala has type 1 diabetes.”
While the condition is known to be found in domestic cats, dogs and in another type of anteater, tamandua, in the wild, no other cases have been reported in giant anteaters.
Stephanie added: “Our keepers did an amazing job quickly training Nala to take an insulin injection every day but the challenge for us was how to continuously monitor her blood glucose levels to ensure she was receiving the perfect dose.
“Taking bloods daily was not an option, and we did initially start monitoring the levels through urine samples but we decided to contact some companies who produced human glucose monitors to try and streamline the process, and find a way which would be the least invasive for Nala.
"Dexcom, leading providers of this technology, kindly donated the monitor to our charity and we were able to apply it during one of her training sessions, which now allows us to check her blood glucose levels through an app remotely."
The RZSS team recently won a bronze award in the British Association for Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) awards for their efforts in animal husbandry, care and breeding for their work in managing Nala’s condition.
The wildlife conservation charity also works internationally with Dr Arnaud Desbiez from the Wild Animal Conservation Institute (ICAS) on the Anteaters and Highways project for the protection of giant anteaters in Brazil against road traffic accidents which pose a serious threat to the species’ long-term survival in the wild.
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