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SINGAPORE – A big hornbill with an aggressive form of cancer at Jurong Bird Park has been given a boost for survival after receiving a superimposed 3D printed prosthesis.
The hornbill received a 46g prosthetic helmet on September 13th after an operation to remove a cancerous growth from the bird's natural helmet, said park operator, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), in a statement Wednesday, October 3.
The helmet refers to the structure of the helmet on the beak of a hornbill.
The vets had carefully cut and removed part of the bird's natural helmet to remove the cancerous tissue, before the prosthetic helmet was put in place.
The prosthesis protects the wound from the operation against any exposure and gives the helmet's natural helmet the time to regrow, process that can take up to a year.
The new look of this 22-year-old bird has earned it the name of Jary, which means a warrior with a helmet in ancient Norse.
He is currently recovering in the close observatory of the Foreign Service of the Jurong Bird Park Avian Hospital and will remain there until the end of October.
Hornbills are classified as Near Threatened in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species and may live up to 40 years on average.
Jary was diagnosed with cancer in July, after the guards noticed that he had on the helmet a notch about 8 cm wide that exposed the underlying tissue.
Two hornbills in the park have had similar cancer in the past. One of them succumbed to the disease despite chemotherapy, while the cancer of the other hornbill had progressed too fast to be treated and the bird had died later.
Jary's unlikely firing at survival stems from a collaboration between the team of park veterinarians, the Connective Ubiquitous Technology for Embodiments Center of the Keio-National University of Singapore (NUS), the NUS Smart Systems Institute, NUS Additive Manufacturing Center and The Animal. Clinical.
The three organizations related to NUS brought their 3D printing capabilities, while Dr. Hsu Li Chieh, Honorary Consultant of The Animal Clinic, was asked to evaluate the 3D models of the bird's prosthesis.
It took almost two months of design and discussion before a model was considered an ideal choice for hornbill.
Dr. Xie Shangzhe, Assistant Director of Conservation, Research and Veterinary Services at WRS, said, "This case is an excellent example of how veterinarians and engineers can work together to use science and technology. in the treatment of diseases such as cancer in all species, including birds.
"Together we got the best result possible."
WRS stated that the plan required specialized veterinary intervention as well as high tech gadgets to perform a surgical resection of the helmet and replace it with a 3D prosthesis.
Jary started eating normally the day after the operation and has recently started to color his prosthetic helmet in yellow. This is done when the bird rubs the helmet on its smoothing glands, which secrete a yellow pigment.
"These natural behaviors are good indications that he has accepted the prosthesis as part of it," Dr. Xie said.
Jurong Bird Park is currently home to four male hornbills and six female hornbills.
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