Wednesday 19 April 2017

Towers of Camelot

In 2005 a poacher shot Beauty the bald eagle in the face and left her to die. With her upper beak nearly gone, she could neither eat nor drink. Fortunately animal rescuers found her before she starved to death. Birds of Prey Northwest of St. Marie’s, Idaho nursed her back to health with a feeding tube. When a bird’s beak cracks, it can be repaired much like a broken tooth. But a lost beak will never grow back. Boise mechanical engineer Nate Calvin learned about Beauty during a Birds of Prey educational presentation he attended with his two daughters. He enlisted the help of other engineers, scientists and even a dentist to design a nylon polymer piece to replace what Beauty has lost. The 3-D printed prosthesis can’t be anchored securely enough for Beauty to be released to the wild, but she can eat, drink and preen on her own. 

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