"Normal" blood pressure in chimpanzees

During routine physical examination under ketamine sedation, 140 blood pressure measurements from male and 170 from female chimpanzees were derived over a period of 3 yr. Statistical analysis revealed generally no differences between the sexes but significant increases of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure with increasing age. The data obtained may constitute a useful management tool with which to identify hypertensive chimpanzees and suggests that this animal species could be a model for hypertension research.