Toucan Prosthetic Beak - A toucan in the Costa Rican city of Grecia, who lost his beak in a cruel attack by local youths last month, is set to get a 3-D printed prosthetic beak.
The toucan, who has been named after the city he was found - Grecia -, made international headlines in Jan. and turned the global spotlight to the largely overlooked issue of animal cruelty in Latin America.
Reports indicate that the animal was beaten with a block of wood by a band of local youths, who laughed at the helpless bird during the incident. It is unclear what may have precipitated the attack.
Grecia the toucan was taken to the Zoo Ave rescue center after the attack, where he has been recovering rapidly. A crowd funding campaign to create a 3-D printed beak for Grecia has raised more than $7,000 and several local companies have offered to help design the new bill for Grecia.
Carmen Soto, a veterinarian who is looking after Grecia, said while his wound is healing well, the toucan is facing difficulties in eating on his own. The 3-D printed prosthetic beak is expected to help Grecia regain this ability. Designers are reportedly studying the bills of toucans in a bid to develop a suitable replacement for Grecia.
One of the designers Nelson Martinez told the press that the idea is to create a beak that has a fixed and a movable part; so it can be periodically changed or cleaned as the animal grows.
"We couldn't use any type of adhesive with chemical components as it could compromise the structure of the beak," he explained to a local paper.
If his bill is replaced successfully, Grecia will become the first bird in Latin America to receive a prosthetic beak. It is unclear if the animal will ever be released back into the wild.
The importance of the large colorful beaks of toucans cannot be overlooked in the wild. Besides using their bills during mating, toucans also use their bills to eat and in self defense. Without a proper bill, Grecia would be helpless in the wild.
While the bills of toucans can grow as large as half the length of their bodies, it is very lightweight. Experts have noted that one of the main difficulties of the team would be to design a prosthetic beak that is equally light and as powerful as a real toucan bill.
© 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
