Sea turtle gets artificial flippers
Yu the turtle test-drives new front legs.
When Yu, a 25-year-old loggerhead turtle, was pulled out of a fisherman's net in 2008, she was missing one-third of her front flipper and half of her left due to a possible shark attack.
Researchers at her new home aquarium in Japan immediately began developing artificial limbs for her. The latest design — her 27th pair — might just be the winner.
The rubber limbs are attached to a vest slipped over her head.
"We have worked hard to design the vest in a way that prevents the turtle from taking it off unwittingly," aquarium curator Naoki Kamezaki said. "It can flutter the limbs as the vest is soft."
— Read it at Discovery News
Photo: Toshifumi Kitamura, AFP / Getty Images / When Yu, a 25-year-old loggerhead turtle, just got her 27th pair of artificial limbs.
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