Extreme orangutan makeover!!

BY ANDREW HERRMANN

What's an overweight girl with bad hair, bad skin, and a bad attitude to do? For Maggie, an "extreme makeover'' was in order. But the Brookfield Zoo orangutan got hers from keepers and vets, not Estee Lauder.

When Maggie arrived at the zoo in 1995 from the Milwaukee Zoo, she was a big, fat mess. Tipping the scales at an obese 200 pounds, she was lazy, snored terribly, had an awful case of the farts and was constipated.

"Her skin was was so dry, it looked white -- like she was painted with whiteout,'' said keeper Carol Sodaro. "Her hair was short and brittle.''

Maggie had even stopped menstruating. Her interest in sex? Not tonight. Or any night.

The zoo put her on a high-fiber diet to drop some weight and tried to get her to exercise -- without much luck. They began to think she was sick but medical tests revealed nothing.

"She was having terrible headaches. Her eyes were half shut and she'd put her face up to the cage so I could massage her forehead,'' said Sodaro.

About a year ago, vets consulted a University of Chicago Hospitals endocrinologist. Maggie's real problem proved to be a hyperthyroid condition. To fix her thyroid -- a gland that regulates metabolism -- she was given thyroxin.

Tuesday, the zoo showed off the "new'' Maggie. Though her before-and-after pix may not reveal much difference, she is 90 pounds lighter, with a complexion perfect for an orangutan: dark and oily. Her hair is soft and shiny; she's sleeping soundly and -- with her snoring and flatulence controlled -- more quietly.

Her disposition has improved, she's learning to brush her teeth and seems interested again in males. Even at her advanced age -- at 43, the third-oldest orangutan in captivity in North America -- Maggie's still capable of reproducing, said head veterinarian, Tom Meehan.

A la Mrs. Robinson, she's been seen mating with Mukah, who at 9 is a much, much younger fella. Makeover, indeed.

http://www.brookfieldzoo.org/pagegen/images/fix/magbefore3.jpg
BEFORE!

http://www.brookfieldzoo.org/pagegen/images/fix/magafter3.jpg
AFTER!