Warning: Viewer discretion is advised, as the following photos and video contain graphic images/scenes.
The veterinary team at Jurong Bird Park recently helped give a Great Pied Hornbill a fighting chance to battle cancer, and they did it with a 3D-printed prosthetic casque. Oh, the wonders of technology.
Some background: On July 13, the 22-year-old male bird was discovered with an 8cm-wide gash on its casque, exposing the tissue beneath. It was similar to two cases the park had seen in the past — one went through chemotherapy (which failed), while the other had cancer that progressed too far for treatment.
The hornbill, named Jary (it means ‘a warrior with a helmet’ in ancient Norse), underwent a CT-guided biopsy at the Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Hospital, where it was confirmed that he had cancer. So on Sept 13, the bird went through surgery that took over an hour, where doctors performed a surgical resection of the casque and replaced it with a 3D prosthesis.
It had taken almost two months of work before the team — aided by Keio-NUS CUTE Centre, NUS Smart Systems Institute, and NUS Centre for Additive Manufacturing — could produce a model that would fit the hornbill perfectly.
According to Dr Xie Shangzhe, Assistant Director of Conservation, Research and Veterinary Services at Wildlife Reserves Singapore, “Jary was eating normally the day after the surgery, and recently also started rubbing the prosthetic casque on its preening glands, which secretes yellow pigment. These natural behaviors are good indications that he has accepted the prosthesis as part of him.”
The bird is currently under observation in the avian hospital’s outdoor ward, but he will return to the Hornbills and Toucans exhibit at the end of October to be reunited with the six female and three other male Great Pied Hornbills.
Watch Wildlife Reserves Singapore’s video below to follow Jary’s journey of recovery (but be warned again, it contains graphic scenes.)
