Alligator gets prosthetic tail
Is it just me or does his tail look totally fake? In Mr. Stubbs' case, it's a fake. Mr. Stubbs is an alligator who got that nickname from his missing tail. But now, the 11-year-old animal has a 3-foot-long prosthetic thanks to scientists in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic reported.
He is the first alligator to tolerate a fake body part.
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Mr. Stubbs arrived at the Phoenix Herpetological Society with a missing tail, probably from the bite of another alligator, ABC15 reported. Without a tail, he was in danger of drowning.
The rubber tail took some time to develop. Early versions caused him to sink, Live Science reported, but this latest version keeps him afloat with the help of an inflatable water wing.
"He is going to have a long and happy life here," Russ Johnson, president of the Phoenix Herpetological Society, told the Arizona Republic. "Right now, I want to get him to the point where he doesn't need that floaty anymore. That way, the other gators will stop making fun of him."
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