Dental experts built a tiny toucan a brand-new beak

Beauregard, a green aracari at Alabama's Birmingham Zoo, damaged his upper beak at 3 months old and lost part of his upper mandible. To fix it, the zoo called maxillofacial prosthetic experts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry, who took an impression and built a mold, the way they would for human dental implants. They color-matched the prosthesis to a natural aracari beak, partly to spare him any social awkwardness among his fellow birds. At about 11 months old, per the university, he is eating and flying like any bird of his kind. He is one of a growing number of animals fitted with custom prostheses. A box turtle named Moses got a 3D-printed wheelchair from a Mississippi Aquarium aquarist during his first week on the job. Vasi became the first known sloth bear to wear a custom paw in 2025. "It's not limiting him at all," said Derrick Campana, who designed it.