Tuesday, April 08, 2014

PBS "My Bionic Pet": Putting Hooves and Paws and Tails Where They Weren't



On Wednesday, April 9, the PBS documentary series Nature will focus on pets who are missing parts. The star of the show will be the all-time star of this blog, Molly the (Three-Legged) Pony, but you'll also meet Chris P, the piglet who lives in a wheelchair or Mr. Stubbs, the alligator who needed a tail, and a pack of pooches who are running with the best of them but without as many legs.

Amazing prosthetics made possible by the latest engineering and technology are able to provide just what these critters and many more featured in the show need, and scientists are finding that innovations created in the process are benefiting both animals and humans.


What's especially interesting is the way that veterinarians and prosthetics engineers work together for the well-being of these animals, and how tuned in the animals' owners are to their pets' needs.

If you have to miss the show on Wednesday night, it may be possible to watch it online after some time has passed. Nature has an online viewing archive where shows can be viewed. It looks like this will be a very popular episode of the series, but it should be online at some point.





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