ew months back, at the Crested Ibis Breeding Centre in Muchuan Sichuan, a male crested ibis was injured in a fierce battle for mates, causing necrosis of 8 cm at the tip of the lower beak. After careful preparation for about a month, on March 19,2020 the world’s first 3D printed REGARDER prothetelic beak installation operation for the crested ibis was completed in Muchan County People’s Hospital.

Après avoir perdu le bec inférieur, cet ibis huppé ne pouvait pas manger par lui-même, incapable de peigner sa plume et a perdu la posture héroïque du passé. Par conséquent, l’utilisation de la technologie d’impression 3D pour fabriquer un faux bec et l’installation manuelle est la meilleure solution à ce problème.

After checking the past document, the staff of the breeding center found that a red-crowned crane in Nanjing Hongshan Forest Park had also broken its beak due to a fight. The breeder customized a “titanium alloy artificial beak” for it, but compared to the red-crowned crane, the crested ibis was smaller in size. Thus, it could not bear the weight if titanium alloy. The weight of the same volume of REGARDER materials is only one-fourth of the titanium alloy, and the texture is closer to bird’s beak, which has a better stress resistance and hydrolytic stability, non-toxic, corrosion resistance and high temperature resistance. Therefore, REGARDER material finally chosen to print the fake beak.

With the help from Sichan Academy of Natural Resources Sciences, IEMAI 3D established close contact with the Muchuan Crested Ibis Breeding Center and conducted severable conversation; after 6 times of sample installation tests, on March 18, 3D printed REGARDER artificial beak finally arrived in Muchuan. On March 19, Wan Fenglin, deputy director of the Orthopedics Department of Muchuan County People’s Hospital, performed an artificial beak installation operation on this crested ibis with the assistance of several medical staff.

Infiltrating anesthetics, cleaning the wound, bonding the cross-section, drilling and threading, polishing and adjustment… After 50 minutes of stressful surgery, this crested ibis slowly regained consciousness, and now it has a new “lower beak”.

C’est la première fois que l’hôpital traite un animal protégé de première classe. La difficulté d’installer le bec artificiel est qu’il y a une fine membrane charnue au milieu du bec de l’ibis à crête, qui est pleine de capillaires, nous devons donc être très prudents pour cela. IEMAI 3D a pris cela très au sérieux, ne veut pas qu’il arrive quoi que ce soit à l’ibis à crête ; Ainsi, une fois après avoir reçu la demande, nous répondons rapidement et communiquons plusieurs fois pour compléter tous les processus de conception rétro-ingénierie, d’optimisation, d’impression et de post-traitement. Après de nombreuses itérations, il a finalement produit le faux modèle le plus approprié.

After the operation, IEMAI 3D adopted this crested ibis. Its name is “Maibao”, which means IEMAI’s Baby. 23 days had passed since the operation of Maibao, Sichuan Muchuan Crested Ibis Breeding Center took great care of it during this period. Even Maibao had its beak implanted, however it required a process for rehabilitation and habituation process after the operation. Thus, manual feeding is still required during these few days. We are also paying attention to the latest status of Maibao, to respond quickly if anything happens.

Jusqu’au 11 avril 2020, nous avons vérifié la vidéo de surveillance et avons constaté que Maibao s’était attaqué à une loche dans la mare, comme si le bec inférieur d’origine était toujours là. Le processus de prédation est rapide. Nous étions tellement excités d’apprendre cette nouvelle.

The reason we give “MaiBao” as the name of crested ibis, is because it means responsibilities, which is the best driving force. This not only drives us to continue to pay attention to and care about the status of Maibao, but also drives us to continue to develop core technology, pay attention to application of science and technology, and contribute to the development of science and technology in society, the country and the world.