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Tortoise Gets a new 3D Printed Shell After Forest Fire
ErnieKey writes: Fred, a Red-Footed Tortoise in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, was unfortunately caught up in a recent forest fire that deteriorated the majority of his shell. He needed a new shell in order to survive, so veterinarians in Santos teamed up with a dentist and a graphical designer to create a new 3D printed shell for Fred that was ultimately surgically placed on the tortoise. From the 3dPrint story: "Fred unfortunately came down with a terrible case of pneumonia post-surgery, which prevented him from eating for about a month and a half, but in the end survived and is now doing very well with his new 3D printed shell. The shell, which was printed with the same PLA material that is found on most desktop 3D printers, has been holding up very well, although researchers are not exactly sure how long it will hold up for or if Fred will be able to be released into the wild."
The turtle lost its shell in a forest fire, so they print him a new shell made of flammable material for the next time? His old shell saved his life, but his new shell might burn him alive if it catches fire. I don't know about all plastics, but I know some are very flammable.
PLA is biodegradable... That means it won't last very long if he is released. Certainly not long enough for an animal whose normal life expectancy is several decades.
as long as they dont plan on releasing him (they said they dont know if they can) it shouldnt be an issue. simply print a larger one as needed
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
i say awwww
A tortoise's shell needs to grow, else it will eventually maim then kill him. These "helpers" are making a huge assumption about the future, maybe it would have better to just euthanize "Fred"
From the photos there is at least 4 parts to the shell. Looks like it is designed to break or separate if the tortoise grows longer or wider. Hopefully that will be enough to prevent death from growing bigger. Tim S.
There are no plans to release him into the wild right now and he looks to be about full size for that species of tortoise already anyway.
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Wouldn't a fiberglass shell have been more durable?
there is no "full size", they' grow until they die
It's short for Frederico, which albeit a bit on the uncommon side, it's a perfectly normal name.
Also, why the fuck are you calling brazillians "primitive", you mook? Does this look primitive to you?
Fuck's sake, this is why americans are hated globally, our ignorance is astounding.
So how long?
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Sometimes, the /. armchair expert knows more than a team of trained professionals.
It is one of those times.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
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Flamebait? Mitch McConnell has fans..!?!
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
You're right, anyone or anything that would face adversity is just better off dead. WTF
You should probably contact this site on the origin of names. Let them know that Fred (short for Frederick) is not really an ancient Germanic name, but a modern American invention.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Was anyone else reminded of the Horta when they saw this story?
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
First off--White? It'll show all the dirt in a couple of months. Should have gone with black. Second, it's a freakin' tortoise. Irony is just calling out for racing stripes or flames or something like that.
I mean, come on guys! He lost his shell! If you're going to give him a new one, at least give him something that doesn't look like a dorky science project.
I want one also. And I want to be ninja, and hang out around Fukushima.
Table-ized A.I.
I'm reminded of the 'gear in concrete' art display - a motor turns a gear that leads to 10 50:1 reductions in a row, with the last one being embedded in concrete.
While they certainly do grow, as an adult the question is 'how much'? If there's enough flex involved, there's room for the likely expansion over the rest of his life.
Also, it looks like the shell is printed with separation points that would allow growth, perhaps of shell underneath to replace the plastic.
I don't read AC A human right
I was wondering if, over time, his natural shell would underplate the artificial shell until it could just be allowed to weather away. Of course, this might well take awhile.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Is it realy Germanic in origin? I thought it must certainly go further back than that considering that derivitives are common in Spanish, English, and German. I'm not sure about Italian. My suspicion is that the Lombards carried it into Spain, and they were hardly Germanic. (Of course, perhaps Ferdinand isn't really Fred, but I suspect that it is.) Various web sites list differing dirivations, but as many go back to Gothic roots as to Germanic, so my suspcion is that it goes to a common ancestral tongue. Do remember that dialects can change pronunciations, and small slips are to be expected rather than surprising.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Is Fred a common name in Brasil?
Wikipedia has articles on Fred, Fred and Fred. All three are soccer players.
"Also, why the fuck are you calling brazillians "primitive", you mook?"
I have family there who will read these posts. I take every opportunity to annoy them. Maybe some day they will come back to the US and I can annoy them face to face in the comfort of my home. But I'm happy to insult a few /. readers while I'm at it. (I had to research 'mook'; hey, that's not a nice appellation!)
...omphaloskepsis often...
Consider this, the average one reaches 12 inches, but reach over 18 inches, and ones on the order of 24 inches (and over 60 lbs) are occasionally reported. No one knows how long they live, either, though in captivity over 30 years is common.
Have you been to France, Palestine, Nicaragua, Cuba, North Korea, or the former Soviet Union in the last 50 years? Hating America has been a popular national policy for decades, if not centuries, in many countries around the world.
Well, I guess today's mods don't get sarcasm. This should've been +1, Funny, not Troll.
Now can someone start working on my idea of tortise and turtle shells with anti-vehicle mines embedded in them? Certainly, it will kill the turtle, but it will ALSO have the salutory effect of Darwinistically weeding-out the subhuman assholes that I have occasionally seen VEER TO HIT turtles making their way across an otherwise uncongested street.
-Styopa
I'd like one of these as well..going gokarting soon...
They should have made him a shell with Kevlar and a pressed layer of coated silica fiber, like the space shuttle TPS tiles. That turtle would be UNSTOPPABLE!
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
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Consider this, the average one reaches 12 inches, but reach over 18 inches, and ones on the order of 24 inches (and over 60 lbs) are occasionally reported.
Which is why I said 'on average'. This turtle has already gotten 'lucky' once by having humans save him after his shell got scorched, rather than being stored upside down on a ship to be eaten by the crew.
I don't read AC A human right
Guess I'd better RTFA. It may explain how he will be able to grow new natural shell by the prosthetic shell, after being released into the wild. If indeed he can.
There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.