When Betty the pit bull was rescued from the streets of New York City, vets confirmed that the two back paws and part of a leg she was missing were likely lost due to a traumatic injury, and they fitted the happy-go-lucky pup with a prosthetic limb.
The result, as captured in a March TikTok video that’s racked up nearly 300,000 views, indicates that Betty might now need to learn a new command: down.
@bettyandherboots Pure joy! Betty was found as a stray last fall missing both of her back feet and part of one leg. Today she got a prosthetic and is re-learning to walk, run, and play! #disableddog #prostheticleg #dogprosthetic #dogbrace #pittie
♬ original sound – bettyandherboots
Prostheses have been assisting people for millennia (the earliest known device is believed to be around 3,000 years old), but sometimes Earth’s other denizens need a helping hand — or leg, paw, or tail — as well.
Stories of humans combining compassion with ingenuity to improve the lives of animals abound; keep reading for six more examples of innovative prostheses made for our four-legged, feathered, and finned friends.
Beauregard the Bird
In Alabama’s Birmingham Zoo, a green aracari bird — a species in the toucan family — damaged his upper beak when he was 3 months old, an injury that resulted in the loss of part of his upper mandible. But what’s a toucan (OK, a toucan relative) without his beak?
To set things right, the zoo reached out to maxillofacial prosthetic experts with the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry, who took an impression of Beauregard’s beak and created a mold, much like they would for human dental implants. From there, a prosthesis was created that closely matched a natural aracari beak, including its color, to minimize any social stigma from his feathered brethren. “Now, at roughly 11 months old, Beauregard has acclimated to his new prosthetic and is eating, interacting, socializing, and flying like a normal bird of his kind,” the university wrote in a May news release.
Moses the Turtle
Still pretty new to the world of 3d printing and 3d modeling, but I created a wheelchair for a disabled turtle at work. Link in description
by u/aquaraboss in 3Dprinting
A state over, at the Mississippi Aquarium in Gulfport, a box turtle named Moses may now be moving a bit faster than his species is known for, thanks to an employee tackling a unique project during his first week on the job.
An aquarist posting under the Instagram handle @jawcritters shared in February that he’d 3D-printed a wheelchair for the little reptile, who is missing his back limbs. The self-proclaimed “animal enthusiast” crowdsourced feedback on his various prototypes, and then published the files for the final design online, so other people can also help turtles in need.
Mosha the Elephant
Rocking a prosthetic leg is nothing new for Mosha — in fact, she’s believed to be the first elephant in the world to receive one. In 2006, at just 7 months old, she severely damaged her front right foot in a landmine in Myanmar. The calf was brought to a hospital in Thailand run by the Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation to recover, and two years later she was fitted with a brand-new artificial limb.
Mosha went on to become a permanent resident of the hospital and has worn several upgraded prostheses over the years as she’s grown, including the one in the above photo, taken in 2017. The foundation’s latest update, posted on its website in 2022, reported that she was continuing to thrive.
Vasi the Sloth Bear
In another, more recent milestone, Vasi made history in 2025 when he became the first known sloth bear to wear a custom-made prosthetic paw. The bear had arrived at southern India’s Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Center in 2019 with an injured paw that had to be amputated — but now he can walk comfortably on all four legs again.
Derrick Campana, the founder of Bionic Pets and a pioneer in the field, designed the prosthesis for the bear. “It’s not limiting him at all,” Campana said in an episode of The Wizard of Paws, a docuseries chronicling his work, adding, “This is huge for Vasi. It’s going to extend his life. It’s going to make him a lot more comfortable. It’s going to allow his body to stay healthy for a longer period of time, so the sky’s the limit for Vasi.”
Winter the Dolphin
Winter is perhaps the most famous animal to receive a prosthesis — famous enough to inspire both a book and a movie. The dolphin became caught in a crab trap in 2005, resulting in the loss of her tail. It was thanks in part to prosthetist and orthotist Dan Strzempka, who lost a limb himself as a child, that she was able to swim again.
Within five weeks of hearing about the injured dolphin, Strzempka and a colleague from the Hanger Clinic, Kevin Carroll, had designed a prototype tail, USA Today reported. Their design worked, and they went on to create a protective gel for the dolphin that’s now used in the field of human prosthetics. Winter lived a happy life at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, receiving upgraded tails over the years, until her death in 2021. Her story inspired the 2011 film Dolphin Tale (starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, and Winter herself), as well as the children’s book Winter’s Tail.
Karamel the Squirrel
And now for the tiniest (and arguably cutest) example on this list: Karamel the squirrel. He was found in a trap in Batman, Turkey, in 2018 and taken to a local vet. Unfortunately, the extent of his injuries couldn’t be addressed there, but a squirrel lover hundreds of miles away in Istanbul found out about Karamel and agreed to adopt him.
The wee rodent needed his two front limbs amputated, but his new owner worked with a team at Istanbul Aydın University to have an innovative prosthetic created — sort of like a wearable wheelchair. It’s unknown how he’s doing today, but some squirrels can live up to 20 years in captivity, so here’s hoping he’s still wheeling around. Watch him go.
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