![]() ![]() A medical investigation confirmed that she had chimpanzee trisomy 22.Īs mentioned above, Kanako developed cataracts in infancy, which eventually caused blindness. Because of Kanako’s physical appearance, which was somewhat different from that of normal chimpanzees, the personnel already suspected that she might have a chromosomal abnormality. Kanako’s echocardiogram showed abnormal blood flow, which indicated a hole in the wall of her heart.Īlthough genetic diseases are not curable, diagnosis can be helpful for better management and care. A new diagnostic ultrasound imaging device was acquired, which allowed the chimpanzees to be given advanced physical check-ups. In 2011, ownership of the facility was transferred from the pharmaceutical company to Kyoto University I will return to this later. Kanako was taken care of by the same personnel who looked after the other chimpanzees at the facility. Thus there appeared no real advantage to finding out the genetic cause of Kanako’s condition. Although a genetic disorder had been suspected, no formal test had been conducted because genetic diseases are not curable. No-one knew that Kanako had a chromosomal abnormality until she was 22 years old. Kanako’s eyesight got progressively worse, and when she was 7 years old she began exploring her surroundings exclusively by touch, at which point she was declared blind. The inflammation caused pupillary block, which led to glaucoma. However, Kanako repeatedly rubbed her eyes after surgery, resulting in postoperative inflammation. One year later she underwent cataract surgery. At around 1 year of age she began to search for food with her mouth, a sign of loss of vision. Shortly before 1 year of age, Kanako began to develop cataracts, leading to increasing loss of eyesight. Kanako’s mother stopped taking care of her when she was about 5 months old, so she was reared by humans from then on. Her weight at birth was 1940 g, which is above average for newborn chimpanzees. Kanako had chimpanzee trisomy 22, which is equivalent to human trisomy 21.Īfter Kanako was born she at first appeared to be developing like a normal baby chimpanzee, although a caregiver noted that she was somewhat inactive and seemingly had less power in her hands and feet than normal she was also unusually quiet. In humans, having an extra copy of chromosome 21 causes Down syndrome, or trisomy 21. ![]() Kanako had an extra copy of chromosome 22, i.e., she had three copies, whereas normal chimpanzees have only two. Chimpanzee chromosome 22 corresponds to human chromosome 21 (Richard and Dutrillaux 1998). The remaining chromosomes in chimpanzees and humans have a one-to-one correspondence. To put it simply, chimpanzee chromosomes 12 and 13 are merged in human chromosome 2. The total number of chromosomes in a normal chimpanzee is 48 (24 pairs), compared to 46 (23 pairs) in humans (Jauch et al. ![]() 2017), Kanako was a blind chimpanzee with a chromosomal abnormality: chimpanzee trisomy 22. She passed away peacefully in the morning of 12 February 2020 at 27 years of age.Īs reported in this journal (Hirata et al. Kanako was a female chimpanzee who was born on 2 June 1992 at a facility in Kumamoto, Japan, which was then owned by a pharmaceutical company. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |