Sounds Good for Rhinos
The zoo’s veterinary team can not only listen clearly to a rhino’s heartbeat and lung sounds for the first time, but, thanks to the stethoscopes’ unique on-board Bluetooth technology, transfer the sounds wirelessly for digital storage and further analysis.
“We can now gather and build up crucial information about the rare Eastern black rhinos and share it with other wildlife professionals worldwide,” explained the zoo’s resident vet James Chatterton.
“These rhinos have been around for about five million years but they’ve been reduced to a critically endangered species, with only around 700 remaining in the wild. It’s paramount that we learn as much as we can to help protect their health and welfare.”
The launch of this new stethoscope couldn’t have come at a better time for the two latest additions to the zoo’s nine black rhinos in the park.
Asani, the first Eastern black rhino to be born there in 10 years, celebrated his first birthday in October. And he was joined by the birth of a female calf called Bashira in May.
As Asani and Bashira grow up and develop their hide – which on rhinos can be up to two inches thick – the zoo can continue to record their progress.
The Littmann 3200 electronic stethoscope, which has been singled out by Popular Science magazine as the “Innovation of the Year”, amplifies sounds by 24 times and reduces background noise by an average of 85 per cent. It has been primarily developed for use by cardiologists, hospital specialists and GPs on human patients. It will help to minimise the number of “false negative” results, where heart conditions aren’t detected, and also “false positives” where patients are unnecessarily referred to a consultant.
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
