A Hornbill Broke Both Halves of His Beak. The Morning After Surgery, He Picked Up a Mouse

A southern ground hornbill at Artis Zoo in Amsterdam is eating and preening on his own again. Vets replaced both the upper and lower halves of his broken beak with custom 3D-printed prostheses.¹⁵

Artis announced the result on October 15, 2026. “As far as is known, this is the first time in the world both parts of a bird’s beak have been restored in this way,” the zoo said in its statement, as reported by NL Times.¹ The world-first claim is the zoo’s own. Artis vet Martine van Zijll Langhout told Good News Instead that the team found no earlier example in the scientific literature.⁷

It matters for more than bragging rights. If the prostheses keep working over the long term, the researchers say the treatment could open new possibilities in veterinary medicine.¹³

Why a broken beak is a big problem

Southern ground hornbills are endangered birds from southern Africa. They forage by probing the ground, and beak injuries are a known problem in the species.²⁵ This one broke his beak while foraging.²

Afterward he managed reasonably well on the two stumps that were left, but his everyday behavior was limited. Hornbills rely on their beaks to forage and to preen, which is how birds clean and arrange their feathers.¹³ “A beak is essential to a bird,” Artis said in its statement.¹

Plastic beak, titanium screws

The repair took four organizations: Artis, Utrecht University’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, UMC Utrecht and the company Amnovis.¹³

Joëll Magré of UMC Utrecht designed the two new beak sections using a CT scan (a detailed 3D X-ray) and the preserved pieces of the bird’s original beak. Somebody, in other words, had the good sense to keep the broken bits. Amnovis made the titanium components.¹³

The new beak halves are not solid metal. According to Dutch reports, they are 3D-printed plastic parts fastened to the stumps with titanium components and screws.³⁴⁵ One report describes each prosthesis as a titanium base, supplied to UMC Utrecht by a Belgian prosthetics company, topped with an adjustable nylon cap.⁶

Van Zijll Langhout and avian specialist Yvonne van Zeeland drew up the treatment plan. Veterinary surgeons Bjorn Meij and Lucinda van Stee of Utrecht University performed the operation at the Utrecht University Animal Hospital.¹³⁵

A mouse by morning

The bird did not wait long to try out the new hardware. “He started using the prostheses on the day of the surgery. The following morning, he independently picked up a small mouse from the ground,” Artis said.¹ Some Dutch reports place the mouse on the second day instead.²⁴ A few days after surgery he began preening.¹³

It is still early. Nobody yet knows how well the prostheses will work over the long term, and the researchers are continuing to monitor his recovery. The specialists hope eventually to publish their experience scientifically. In the meantime, the zoo has made spare parts in case a prosthesis breaks.¹³