Gizmodo
Winter was just two months old when she got her tail caught in a crab trap—and rendered a useless stump—off the coast of Florida. After a long recuperation and a year and a half of hard labor by one of the veterinary world's top prosthetics wizards, Winter became the first dolphin to receive a functional but fake tail, qualifying her, according to the Daily Mail, as the "world's first bionic sea creature." Here's the story:
When they found Winter injured and flopping around in the ocean, rescuers took her to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where she recovered, but couldn't get her swimmin' skillz back. Worse, her doctors thought she might throw out her back trying to swim with her stump.
Enter prosthetics master Kevin Carroll who, says the Daily Mail, "has designed prosthetics for dogs, an ostrich, and even [one lucky] duck." Carroll checked out the situation and thought coming up with the prosthetic would be easy. In the end, though, it took a year and a half to construct the 30" silicone and plastic tail, due to the fact that inside the prosthesis' slip, the spine of the dolphin has to have the freedom to move any which way. (By contrast, a leg bone typically stays put when a prosthesis is slipped over it.)
Check out more pics of the happy-looking Winter at the Daily Mail. [Daily Mail]
Comments
This is cool and terribly sweet at the same time. Good stuff.
nice now we need to find a way to attach "frigging lasers"
This kind of story restores my faith in humanity. Well, some of it anyway.
Good thing there was nothing better in the world to spend money on than making a fake tail for a dolphin.
I, for one, welcome our new bionic dolphin overlords.
@Curves: I'm considering only going to the vet when I get older. They're nicer to patients than regular doctors are :P
Dolphins are wonderful creatures - they have actually tried to saved Human lives by pulling unconscious sailers ashore
So long, and thanks for all the fish! And the prosthetics!
@Curves: I agree
@SEARCH ENGINES: It makes me wonder if there's that one asshole dolphin that would think it was funny to carry the guy out even further.
@rb4dv: If you ever lose a limb, I'll be sure to push spending of the money that would've been used to restore your mobility on a more worthwhile effort. Satisfied?
That is awesome that they can do that but I wonder if they know the human children are still starving to death on this planet.
@archercc: Jerk
Is the prosthetic equipped with weapons?
@archercc: I guess I should toss my cat out the window and tell my vet to get a real job saving the children. Get bent.
@archercc: Something tells me you don't say that when you drop money on an ipod or some other gadget. Ever consider the science that went into attaching this to an animal may one day be used on humans? I think some other species deserve a little help after all we've done anyway.
come on guys, different groups specialize in different projects and they receive funding as such. such research in giving a Dolphin a new tail could possibly advance in human prosthetic technology! show me an organization that care for and cure every human, ecological and biological issue on this planet and I'll show you a complete liar! at least someone has the balls to care for Marine wildlife!
ASS!
I am just that much closer to acheiving my dream of becoming a merman.
@SEARCH ENGINES: Just a year or two ago I recall reading a story about some life guards in Australia who were saved by some dolphins. They were taking a training swim when some dolphins approached and basically herded the swimmers into a small group. After a little while the swimmers realized there was a shark in the area and the dolphins were basically protecting them from a potential attack.
@Kaiser-Machead: yeah, that sounds good, because i'm not a contributing member of society or anything like this dolphin.
@IphtashuFitz:
That's basically how it works. The dolphins gain our trust through acts of kindness, then when we least expect it, our country is overrun by them and they start producing tuna w/ human meat :c(
@rb4dv: I sincerely doubt it's any contribution that would've made my life any better, so I guess I'll just have to remain indifferent on that one. The money could've been better spent on what? What with all of these people, including yourself, buying superfluous products, with companies spending millions in research and development of non-essential consumer products, surely the money spent on all of these things could've been spent on something more worthwhile.
@rb4dv: Did a dolphin bite you as a kid at SeaWorld or something?
@IphtashuFitz: Dolphins are amazing, I just wish I had the chance to see one in person sometime, in the wild preferably (I hear they live up to six times as long in the wild compared to in captivity?)
@archercc: would you fill the same if it was your pet dog , cat or whatever.
when was the last time you donated to africa
all the money you've probably dropped on gadgets couldn't that have went to africa yes no or maybe or is it when others spend money you want to complain.
how have you helped children in africa ?
Its a dolphin. Let it die for cripes sake. Maybe we should give a veteran a prosthetic instead of tax dollars saving a dolphin. Maybe we should help "people". I have a new organization to announce "People for the Ethical Treatment of People" it's like PETA but makes sense.
What's up with the comments system? It displays my comments just fine on Kotaku, but one of my Lifehacker ones never showed up (did on my profile page, though) and now here... Anyway..
@rb4dv: Did a dolphin bite you as a kid?
@IphtashuFitz: Things like this make me wish I could meet a dolphin just once. Preferably in the wild because I hear they live longer when they're not in captivity (six times as long?). They're totally amazing creatures.
@WilCon: It's just a baby with no arms. Let it die.
I hate people like you: "Oh it doesn't affect me, who gives a crap, WHERE'S MY NEW CAR!"
Why is there ALWAYS some contradictory asshole who has to put everything down? This is a great story and I am sure that dolphin has a serious loyalty toward humans now, which might come in handy sometime in the future for a drowning child.
@WilCon: Veterans DO get prosthetics, but the question I have to ask is that why is it that whenever a VETERINARIAN helps an animal with a major injury, some rube from left field wants to make jabs and spew their worldly wisdom about how they should be helping people instead? Another question that comes to mind is, what is YOUR profession that puts you in such a position to make this kind of judgment? Unless you yourself work diligently to save people, what say do you really have in the matter?
Oh Armchair Lords of the Earth, I summon thee to come forth, and politely answer my inquiries.
@mrxcel: How about a robotic exoskeleton in homage to Tony Stark?
@FrancesTheMute: fail.
Please, everyone, no more gimmick posts that have been made hundreds of times. They make everyone look stupid.
@GOKOR: I for one welcome our sensible, in-your-face brand of honesty overlords.
@sugardeath: Go shark fishing off the coast of Florida, chances are you'll have a better time swimming with the dolphins than you will getting them to leave you alone...
...well, at least that's how my experience went. Luckily we were able to lose the dolphins and catch a bull shark after about four hours.
Animals are part of the environment, part of the earth continuing to function properly. If our man made traps took this animals tail off, then I feel it is our obligation to make it right.
There are many people working on limbs for people too, so please stop complaining, you might just find your heart rate going down a little.
So long and thanks for all the fish
leave it to the *internets to find something wrong with a great story like this. Can't we just be happy when good shit happens?
@kahri: some idoits are like Hitler, Warmongers!
I hope that tail is edible... Otherwise it could lead to a MASSIVE tuna recall. Sorry PETA (and Winter)... I'm just saying.
@WilCon: Tax dollars? A private, non-profit aquarium that receives no funding from the government is diverting tax dollars that should be spent on veterans? Please explain how that works.
@OG512:
Wow, evoking the name of Hitler on a thread about Dolphins... You're probably crazier than the crazies you're talking about.
@Munch:
You're crazy.
@OG512:
You're crazier.
How about we exterminate all the umans, who caused all this misery in the first place?
Monday morning, the day's not half over, and already I feel like killing something.
@mrxcel:
Not our fault, blame the leaders of those countries. That dolphin loosing its tail wasn't really our fault but it was do to our activities.
So I guess all the naysayers object to animal research, because that's basically what this was, except it helped the animal instead of killing it. It's not like we can apply this to say, prosthetics that humans can use for swimming, right? Seriously, if we can justify military research spending by claiming there are humanitarian benefits, I think it's safe to assume animal prosthetics research can help human prosthetics research.
@Kaiser-Machead: "I'm considering only going to the vet when I get older. They're nicer to patients than regular doctors are :P"
Yeah, you say that now. Wait until the vet says, "OK, it's time to take your temperature."
This is a lovely story and all but, I just have to know, why is it that the Daily Mail seems to hold a special place in the Giz universe?
@Kaiser-Machead: "I'm considering only going to the vet when I get older. They're nicer to patients than regular doctors are :P"
If you regularly bit your doctor, I'm sure he'd be nicer to you too.
God you people are a bunch of fairy twats. I make one statement saying that it is awesome but point out that there are still humans who need help and you dickwats immediately start calling me a jerk and assuming I spend thousands on ipods and dont give shit.
Ive probably given more to philanthropic organizations in the last decade than the average annual income of the idiots calling me a jerk. The only apple product I own is a shuffle my girl gave me as a gift. im actually not a gadget freak (I dont even own a modern TV). Im more of an outdoorsy guy but I work in software/hardware so its nice to have a place to see what interests people.
That is about as far as I am going to go because I am sure you guys will continue with assumptions and flame me for little to no reason other than you have little else to do in your pathetic lives.
maybe he'll start hacking pharmacudical company mainframes or peoples' cybernetic implants. I got 80 gigs in my head man!!!