Penguin to Receive 3D Printed Beak

Additive manufacturing (AM) has proven a boon to the medical industry, particularly in the area of prosthetics. A scanner, a 3D printer, and a bit of know-how have brought about the production of inexpensive prosthetic designs that have helped people around the world. The same technology has also been used to help animals suffering from life threatening injuries.

A penguin in the Warsaw Zoo will be the latest beneficiary of a 3D printed prosthetic. Although zoo officials aren’t sure how it happened, the penguin managed to break its beak and hasn’t been able to feed itself. Without a replacement, the animal would have either eventually starved to death, or been put down. 

Polish company MTT Polska is responsible for the drive to find the penguin a new beak. MTT reached out to Omni3D, a Polish 3D printer company, which took 3D scans of a normal beak using a dead penguin as a model. The company expects to print out a number of potential plastic replacement beaks to ensure one of the prosthetics will fit properly.

“We had gone to the zoo to see if they could use any of our 3D technology, and didn’t know anything about the bird at first,” Bartek Jarkiewicz, from the firm MTT Polska told The Telegraph. “Then they said they had a penguin with a problem and asked if we could come up with a new beak.”

With a successful surgery, the penguin will be able to return to its normal activities, including feeding itself. Currently the animal requires hand feeding and its beak has continued to deteriorate. A 3D printed plastic replacement should be durable enough to survive the elements in the penguin’s enclosure, and could always be replaced it began to suffer wear and tear.

In a similar vein, below you’ll find a video about Buttercup, the duck that received a prosthetic foot.

Source: Telegraph