Back in early June, an animal hospital in Guangzhou received an unexpected guest, when an injured red-crowned crane arrived in need of serious medical attention.
The bird, which was dubbed Lili by hospital staff, had received some serious beak breakage (almost the entire top portion of the bill was destroyed) while in a fight at a local zoo.
To help remedy the bird’s unfortunate situation, hospital director Wu Zijun devised a plan to install a prosthetic beak using 3D printing technology (#wecanrebuildhim).
Over the following month, hospital staff prepared seven plastic beak models to test on the wounded crane. The final data from the test models was used to create a titanium prosthetic that was permanently attached to the bird’s head.
The crane is expected to make a full recovery and be able to return to business as usual, aka eating fish and salamanders and such.
Red-crowned cranes are an endangered species of bird that are native to East Asia. The species receives 'national level' protection from China's environmental agencies.
Sometimes referred to as the Japanese crane or, in China, the Manchurian crane, this particular fowl has been known to aggressively guard its territory, which explains the violent altercation in which Lili’s bill was broken.
According to Vinter S.V.’s 1981 publication Nesting of the red-crowned crane in the Central Amur Region, red-crowned cranes have been known to engage with both birds and mammals that threaten their nests – in some cases killing other predators, such as small foxes.
Scroll down for more pictures of this captivating operation:
Pre-operation preparation.
And on it goes!
In a major joint victory for both endangered animals and 3D printing technology, this crane will live to fight another day. In the wild it is highly unlikely this animal would have survived long with only the bottom portion of its beak.
A wee post-operation meal for our titanium beaked friend.
[Images via QQ News]
0 User Comments