The efficient heart rate monitoring functionality of the Apple Watch seems to be capable of monitoring not only humans but also animals. A conservation veterinarian discovered that if you have a sedated lion, you could monitor its heart rate by wrapping an Apple Watch around its tongue.
The discovery of functionality of the Apple Watch heart rate monitoring on lions was discovered by Australian wildlife veterinarian Dr. Chloe Buiting. A recent Instagram video showed an anesthetized lion with an Apple Watch strapped to its tongue. The veterinary doctor described how the Apple Watch is helping conservation vets to these powerful patients during medical examinations and surgeries.
The idea of strapping an Apple Watch on a sedated lion to monitor its heart rate was first mooted by Dr. Fabiola Quesada and Dr. Brendan Tindall, both wildlife conservation vets. The functionality of the Apple Watch is not limited only to lions. It has been used for other animals including an elephant. Dr. Buiting says the smartwatch was taped to the ears of the elephant and it delivered accurate readings.
The Instagram video of the sedated lion being monitored using the Apple Watch was posted by Instagram user jungle_doctor. The post highlights that the deployment is a true technology meets conservation story. It says the finding is very important because one of the biggest challenges of working with animals in the field is the monitoring of anesthesia without much of the equipment you will have in a hospital setting. Additionally, many monitoring devices are often designed for smaller animals and this affects the accuracy of readings when such devices are used on larger animals or furrier/ scaly animals.
The discovery of an unintended capability of the Apple Watch also signposts a growing use of technology to tackle challenges on the field for wildlife conservationists. Apple has not released an official statement on the impressive story. It is also not clear which Apple Watch was used to monitor the lion’s heart rate, although all Apple Watch models come with heart rate monitoring.
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