The wonders of 3D printing are seemingly limitless, after a toucan’s beak was saved using ground-breaking technology thanks to researchers and three Brazilian universities.
Tieta was rescued from a Brazilian animal fair in March this year, and was found with a severely broken beak that appears to have been smashed off either by her captors or as a result of fighting with another bird as she was being transported in a small box.
Wildlife management group Instituto Vida Livre stepped in to care for Tieta and also repair her beak in an incredible way. Researchers spent three months inventing her new prosthetic beak, which was made from a combination of plastic and nail polish, all sealed with a special polymer made from the castor oil plant.
Three months to design, two hours to print, 40 minutes in surgery for the beak to be fitted – but what a success!
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‘It took her three days to realise she had it again,’ Instituto Vida Livre Director Roched Seba said.
‘We were feeding her fruit and she was ignoring the new beak. But when we gave her live animals, like maggots and cockroaches, she ate normally immediately,’ he explained.
‘I believe she had that kind of food when she was free, before losing the beak. So it activated a core memory.’
Whilst Tieta’s injuries mean she won’t be able to be released into the wild, wildlife control agency Ibama say that they are looking to send her to an educational zoo to help create awareness about animal trafficking where she will be joined by a male toucan, who was similarly rescued from animal traffickers and also has a problem with his beak.
Ibama hopes they will mate (they can swap beak stories to break the ice) and their chicks then be released into the wild. What a happy ending!
