Absolutely love this!!!

Does anyone know how a bird can get injured like this? I’m assuming there aren’t a lot of predators in the cage, did it just get stuck somewhere and pull it off?

There's slightly more info in Dutch on the Artis website[0]. It doesn't mention specifically how the bird got injured, but it does mention that the zoo still had the two broken-off pieces. They used these pieces (together with a CT scan) to create the new prostheses.

[0] https://www.artis.nl/nl/artis-park/verhalen/zuidelijke-hoorn...

The pictures don't really do it justice, it is a massive bird and very impressive up close. If you're ever near Artis do go and have a look (though with their prices I wouldn't blame you if you didn't...).

Wasn't reported, but they like to hit rocks

A door closing on a fleeing bird would be my first candidate.

incredible work and effort.

I'm curious about the economics of these. who funds these endeavors and why? who makes the decision on spending $X for quality of life improvement on a hornbill vs saving a few rhinos.

because in a world where you see humans without basic stuff to live with, this is a fascinating economic alignment with a different species

> who funds these endeavors and why?

https://www.artis.nl/en/plan-your-visit/ticket-prices

Maybe you can ask a similar question to the millions of people (literally!) who bought 2,000$ iPhone Duo devices in the last few days.

Spending a bit of money to save a bird's life seems inconsequential.

Those millions of people bought the iPhone Duo devices with their own money that they worked a corporate job for weeks or months for in order to afford and have the right to spend that money however they want.

The real question is was this endeavour funded by public or private money. If it's private money that's great, if it was in any way funded by my tax dollars which I am forced at gun point to pay, that is not okay.

If you find yourself in Amsterdam, there are some terrific enclosures at Artis (the elephants I really enjoyed). It’s a very different feeling from most zoos in the US.

Who paid the bill?

I did. And many other people here in NL as well. Either because of buying tickets or because they donate ( https://www.artis.nl/nl/steun-artis )

What I wonder about is why there is so much focus on the cost, rather than on the tech and the fact that this is a very tricky thing to do for a living creature.

Not OP but I did laugh because I saw the joke in the use of the word bill.

Edit for none English speakers the words beak and Bill are often used interchangeably to mean a bird's beak or bill.

Ahh, good one, that went totally over my head.

Yup that was the pun I made.

The best jokes are like that. And it was in the title so I probably should have noticed.

> What I wonder about is why there is so much focus on the cost

Americans. Cost and value are everything, and it has poisoned every level of society.

Whoosh.

The first here means both beak get the prostheses. There were cases already where toucan, stork and crane got new beak, but they were one side only. A parrot was treated but the prosthetics were molded I think.

A parrot beak is ridiculously powerful, it is more like a biological side-cutter than what I would normally associate with a bird beak. I've seen them crack nuts that I would have needed a steel tool for.

It looks like this solution really fit the bill.

Seriously though, awesome article and I hope we get to see some videos of the bird using his new beak at some point. I love how all these experts came together to fix the beak.