The southern ground hornbill is a native of southern Africa.
It’s the largest of the hornbills, weighing between 8 and 13 pounds and almost
five feet tall. It will eat fruits and seeds, but its diet is chiefly reptiles,
amphibians, snails, insects, and small mammals. It uses its large beak to
capture and ingest its prey, and also to clean and arrange its feathers. So,
when a hornbill loses both its upper and lower beaks, it is functionally disabled.
Last week at Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, a hornbill received a pair of replacement
beak prosthetics, attached with titanium screws. The zoo’s veterinarian team partnered
with Utrecht University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, UMC Utrecht, and the medical
technology company Amnovis to create the world’s first dual 3D‑printed
beak prosthesis. The bird began using its new set of beaks the same day as the
procedure, and the following morning it was preening and feeding itself.
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