University of Edinburgh vets help save bear with monstrously enlarged tongue

An Asian black bear was saved from a painful illness that caused its tongue to swell to an enormous size thanks to a team from the University of Edinburgh, who traveled to Myanmar to operate on him. The 18-month-old bear, called Nyan htoo, was rescued by a monastery when he was a cub, alongside his brother Kan htoo. Following the rescue, Nyan htoo contracted an infection, which the Edinburgh veterinary team said may have been mosquito-transmitted elephantiasis.

An Asian black bear was saved from a painful illness that caused its tongue to swell to an enormous size thanks to a team from the University of Edinburgh, who traveled to Myanmar to operate on him. The 18-month-old bear, called Nyan htoo, was rescued by a monastery when he was a cub, alongside his brother Kan htoo. Following the rescue, Nyan htoo contracted an infection, which the Edinburgh veterinary team said may have been mosquito-transmitted elephantiasis.

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