Brave vet uses Apple watch in craziest way to measure a lion's heart rate and it's not for the faint-hearted

Science and technology have been making strenuous efforts to advance the medical care system for animals. In the cases of wild or endangered species, it becomes even more important to be careful with handling and treating them. Dr. Chloe Buiting, who is popularly known as the “Jungle Doctor” on Instagram, recently shared a mind-blowing discovery made by her and her team. The team found the most bizarre yet exemplary way to measure the heart rate of a lion and it doesn't involve any complex apparatus. Buiting shared a post explaining how she and her team achieved the milestone and their work is noteworthy. 

The doctor revealed that they used nothing but an Apple smartwatch and much courage to measure the heart rate of a lion. While the device is known to be phenomenal in measuring body rates and pressures of human beings, measuring that of a wild animal has to be a first. Calling it a “technology meets conservation story,” Buiting explained the process in her intriguing caption. She wrote, “I don’t know what’s more impressive… the snore, or the discovery that the Apple Watch can measure a lion’s heart rate if you strap it to the tongue (even if it is one of the less conventional “off-label” uses for the device).” 

The visual shared along with the caption captured the lion’s mouth with its tongue out wrapped in the Apple watch, providing the heart rate on the watch screen. The lion’s mouth was tied with a piece of clothing for safety purposes. She also allowed her viewers to catch the loud snore coming from the big furry guy. Buiting mentioned, “This finding is particularly handy because one of the biggest challenges of working with animals in the field is the monitoring of anesthesia without many of the regular bells and whistles you’d have in a hospital setting.”

She added that many monitoring systems are designed for smaller animals and finding this unconventional yet effortless method is a winner. “So, when my colleague Dr. Fabiola and Dr. Brendan Tindall found this trick recently, it was a game changer!” Buiting exclaimed. Additionally, Buiting mentioned that this method has been effectively tested on elephants too when taped to their ears. “It is the ultimate ‘work smarter not harder’ in my book,” she exclaimed. She added that she was “blown away by ‘discoveries’ like these, real-time GPS tracking collars for endangered species, ‘horn pods’ for rhinos, and the Poaching Test developed by scientists.” 

Lastly, the vet took time to appreciate the many efforts made deliberately in the field of technology for the welfare of wildlife, as well as the spontaneous discoveries that are a cherry on the cake. She concluded, “It’s nothing short of incredible to see all the advances that have been made – all of which are just little reminders of the incredible potential technology holds, and all of the hope that remains for some of our most critically endangered animals.” People who watched the clip were left awestruck. @inrobison wrote, “Well that’s one way to monitor!” @kim_tmo added, “Seriously, necessity is truly the mother of invention.”

You can follow Dr. Chloe Buiting (@jungle_doctor) on Instagram for more content on animals.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on June 20, 2024. It has since been updated.