Toucan 3D Prosthetic Miracle

The ZooAve animal rescue center in Costa Rica made medical history when they successfully implanted a Toucan with a 3D printed prosthetic saving the animal’s life. After a horrific assault on the bird a year ago that left it without most of its upper beak, it was taken to the ZooAve animal rescue center. The center raised the money for the prosthetic device based on this latest 3D printing technology to create a new beak, and ultimately save the bird’s life.

The injury did not occur in the wild but through the senseless violence of a few teenage boys. People around the world were were horrified by the malevolent attack of the defenseless creature. The injury left the bird unable to eat or stay balanced. Toucans rely on their beak to eat, mate and defend themselves in the wild. Without it, they cannot survive. Replacing the beak was a life or death matter that gained the attention and support of people around the world. The money to replace the beak was raised through a crowdfunding campaign that closed with $10,500. The attack was considered so heinous that it resulted in the creation of a Costa Rica animal cruelty bill that is now pending being passed into law.

Prosthetics are one of the medical wonders available through 3D printing that promises to usher in a new age for animals and people that suffer a loss of a limb or body part. Toucans have a beak that is lightweight and made of keratin. The designers were faced with a real challenge to design a beak that would look and feel like a comparable light weight material for the bird. It also had to be designed so it could be adjusted to match the bird’s growth over time. They also could not use chemical compounds that could possibly harm the bird either.

In the end, four Costa Rican 3D printing companies, Elementos 3D, Ewa!corps, Publicidad Web and Grupo Summerus, stepped forward to work with ZooAve in creating the beak and successfully transplanting the prosthetic onto the bird. 3D printing is able to create precise lifelike prosthetics at a quality unmatched in the past. 3D prosthetics have been used for dogs and cats up till now. The use of one on a wild animal is a big breakthrough, especially successfully replacing a beak. It’s a big medical breakthrough for veterinarians and wildlife specialists that resulted from a horrible tragedy.