Thursday 11 October 2012

Dolphin With Artificial Tail



Florida, United States – Winter, the dolphin, is the star and subject of the upcoming movie, “Dolphin Tale”, which stars Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, and Harry Connick Jr. Winter lost her tail when she was just three months old. She was caught in a blue crab trap off the coast of Florida and the blood supply to her tail was cut off by the rope. Contrary to what the doctors believed, she managed to live at the Cleanwater Marine Aquarium.

The doctors thought that she would slowly learn to swim without a tail. However, the problem was that swimming would require her to move sideways rather than the normal up-and-down movement and that would cause muscles to get overproduced. This would cause scoliosis, where the spine curves away from the middle or sideways. It was then Kevin Carroll, vice president of prosthetics at Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics, helped Winter by designing a special tail prosthetic for her. A prosthetic is an artificial substitute or replacement of a part of the body.


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