division chief of otolaryngology \u2013 head and neck surgery<\/a> at UCSD. \u201cThis is an emergency, and we shouldn\u2019t let too many suns set before we evacuate this infection.\u201d<\/p>\nAfter the call Friday afternoon, Harris began researching everything there is to know about a gorilla\u2019s anatomy before the operation Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
Because humans and gorillas share some anatomical similarities, Harris and Kris Suresh, a resident fellow at UCSD Health, adapted human medicine techniques to perform the surgery on Mizani. Robin Boyington, a scrub technician, assisted them during the procedure by handing them medical instruments. They regularly perform skull and ear surgeries \u2014 but on people.<\/p>\n
While Harris said he\u2019s researched animal anatomy, the extent of his experience with animal surgery was an endoscopy \u2014 an examination of internal organs \u2014 on a koala. So, when he got the call, he said, \u201clet\u2019s find out as much as we can about gorillas, and let\u2019s get it taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris said his team brought all the necessary medical equipment with them to the surgery, which took place at the Harter Veterinary Medical Center at Safari Park, and it lasted about five hours.<\/p>\n
The procedure included an incision on the left side of Mizani\u2019s head and removal of infected mastoid bone and tissue parts. More than 20 veterinarians, physicians, registered veterinary technicians and wildlife care specialists were involved, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sut-l-gorilla-surgery-01-e1784148857547.jpg\")
A scar shows on Mizani the gorilla\u2019s head following a successful mastoidectomy. (San Diego Zoo Safari Park)<\/p>\n
A big difference between a gorilla\u2019s and a person\u2019s mastoid \u2014 the bone behind the ear \u2014 is that a gorilla\u2019s is enormous. Harris said his biggest concern was making sure he knew where Mizani\u2019s facial nerve was to avoid it; otherwise, it could seriously injure him.<\/p>\n
But it was a success. Mizani has shown signs of improvement, as exams reveal that the infection was removed, zoo officials said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is absolutely one of the most gratifying things I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n
Sadler, the veterinarian, said this disease is rare among gorillas. Wildlife care experts said they believe he developed the infection before he arrived at the zoo in November 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven after working with gorillas throughout my career, I\u2019m still learning something new every day,\u201d Sadler said in a statement. \u201cProcedures like this highlight how medicine can be remarkably similar across species, while also requiring very different approaches depending on the animal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mizani is back to eating normally, zoo officials said. He will continue to be monitored and is scheduled for another exam in a year.<\/p>\n
In August, Harris is traveling to the Netherlands to present the experience as the first mastoidectomy surgery on a gorilla. He also has four lectures in India in October, during which he said the surgery may also be brought up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 12-year-old gorilla at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park seemed to struggle to open his mouth. Mizani…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,643,10428,1570,181,23,100,3054,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-399830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-environment","tag-escondido","tag-health","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-north-county","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SUT-L-GORILLA-SURGERY-01-rotated-e1784148269750.jpeg\")
A 12-year-old western lowland gorilla named Mizani at San Diego Zoo Safari Park underwent a mastoidectomy to treat an infection of a large bone behind his ear. The surgery was performed by wildlife health experts and surgeons from UC San Diego Health. (San Diego Zoo Safari Park)<\/p>\n