A 22-year-old great pied hornbill called Jary (which means "a warrior with a helmet" in ancient Norse) received a 3D-printed prosthetic bill to replace the top part of its beak, which was destroyed by cancer, according to a report by BBC News.
Keepers at Jurong Bird Park in Singapore first noticed the hornbill had a deep gash on its casque -- a helmet-like structure on top of the bird's beak. Through CT-guided biopsy, a team of veterinarians discovered the source of the gash was cancer.
The clinicians teamed up with 3D-printing engineers from NUS Smart Systems Institute to create a personalized 3D-printed prosthetic for the bird based on CT scans of its bill.
Jary was discharged from the hospital in September. The new casque has since turned yellow, after he colored it using pigment from his yellow tail, zoo officials said. He will wear the prosthetic bill until he is able to grow a new casque, BBC News said.
