The extraordinary long lives of tortoises envy us all, but these cute creatures are unable to do much on firm ground. They just wriggle around with their miniscule speeds and shy away into their chubby shells when they sense foul play. This 90-year-old young Mrs. T. was unable to do that in time as a gang of sneaking rats attacked it and tore away most of its front paws.
The vets were baffled at how to address this unique situation as limb transplants/prosthetics of tortoises aren’t a popular practice among the medical community. So, naturally, where docs failed, a mechanical engineer took over. He came up with the perfect solution of attaching a pair of wheels on either side of the reptile’s front portion.
Thank you rolling friction as this poor animal is now able to move and Mrs. T. is adjusting well to her new pair of mechanical limbs. Thumbs up engineering! We hope that these innovative ideas from young engineers keep saving the wildlife for the times to come.