The 1-year-old toucan’s upper beak got hacked off by a group of miscreants who left the bird for dead after ruining his handsome face. For the past four months, the half-beaked bird has been nursed back to health at Costa Rica’s Animal Rescue Bird Zoo, where he’s learned to feed himself by scooping and guzzling mashed fruit with his lower mandible — not unlike a pelican.
Grecia the toucan shows his gruesome smile
But Grecia’s unsightly underbite could soon be a thing of the past. Thanks to the collective ingenuity of Costa Rica’s tech sector, and $10,000 in funding from an Indiegogo campaign, the injured bird is about to get equipped with a new 3D-printed prosthetic beak — or “toucan dentures,” as nobody has called it.
The plastic beak, scheduled to be attached to Grecia’s stub in June, will be the first procedure of its kind in Latin America, and one of the first 3D-printed beaks attempted anywhere the world. Costa Rica, which is positively beamish about most things, is positively beamish about the opportunity to showcase its twin passions for nature and technology.
Drawing of initial prototype for prosthetic beak
Grecia the toucan shows his gruesome smile
But Grecia’s unsightly underbite could soon be a thing of the past. Thanks to the collective ingenuity of Costa Rica’s tech sector, and $10,000 in funding from an Indiegogo campaign, the injured bird is about to get equipped with a new 3D-printed prosthetic beak — or “toucan dentures,” as nobody has called it.
The plastic beak, scheduled to be attached to Grecia’s stub in June, will be the first procedure of its kind in Latin America, and one of the first 3D-printed beaks attempted anywhere the world. Costa Rica, which is positively beamish about most things, is positively beamish about the opportunity to showcase its twin passions for nature and technology.
Drawing of initial prototype for prosthetic beak
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