CBS News has a story on Winter, the world’s first bionic sea creature.
Two years ago the bottlenose lost her tail in a crab trap at just two months old and was found floating in distress off the coast of Florida. Winter could not swim and was barely able to waggle from side to side.
Rescuers brought the dolphin to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida in critical condition, where the medical staff were uncertain she would pull through. Winter survived, but lost her tail and was left with a stump. Unable to swim properly, Aquarium director David Yates feared her waggling might damage her spine.
The solution was an artificial tail created by Kevin Carroll, one of the world’s leading prosthetists. Besides his work with people, he has designed prosthetics for dogs, an ostrich, and even a duck. Several months of work went into fitting Winter with a 30 inch silicone and plastic tail, finally allowing Winter to swim freely once again. It’ll take some time and getting used to for Winter to be completely back to her usual routines, but the staff of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium are confident Winter will adapt just fine.
