Mishka the Amur tiger was sedated in her habitat and transported to the scanner, where vets were looking for any bone and spinal changes.
“The keepers are looking after her really well,” said Simpson-Brown.
“She’s actually currently really comfortable, so we are using this as the gold standard re-check to be able to ensure we are not missing anything else going on there.”
He said work with animals in captivity had a “ripple effect” for big cats in the wild and treatment protocols.
The CT scanner enabled any underlying health issues to be ruled out quickly and non-invasively, he added.
Bob, a one-eyed African black-footed penguin, and Grub, a meerkat, were also scanned, along with a sloth named Arlo.
Keepers had raised concerns that Arlo seemed particularly lethargic, even by sloth standards.
“Looking at a sloth and trying to determine if they are lethargic or not cannot be the easiest,” said Simpson-Brown.
“Luckily the keepers here are incredibly diligent, so they are noticing the subtle changes in an animal.”
