Cincinnati Zoo's Gorilla Gifted 'World's First 3D-Printed Titanium Cast' to Heal Her Broken Arm

Most of the time, the engineers at GE Additive are working on 3D-printing computer parts and troubleshooting machinery. Even veteran engineers haven't seen a project like this before, but a select few people had the opportunity to use their technology to help an injured zoo gorilla.

In a first endeavor of its kind, the GE Additive team developed the "world's first 3D-printed titanium cast" for Gladys the 11-year-old gorilla. She's one of 11 gorillas who call Cincinnati Zoo home, but she's recently been recovering from a broken arm that has been making things more difficult than they need to be.

Fortunately, her zookeepers and engineers were able to devise a plan to upgrade her cast. So on April 25, a team of veterinarians, zookeepers, engineers, and tech designers came together to turn the vision into reality.

Wow, this kind of technology seems like it could help so many animals--and even people--who are dealing with major injuries. The metal can't be the most comfortable material, to be sure, but it does its job of keeping the zoo gorilla's injured limb in place so it can heal.

Related: Gorilla At the Omaha Zoo Is So Gentle With His Pet Mouse

And the good news is that Gladys likes this cast a lot more than she liked her first one! With the injured part of her arm safe and secure, she can still move her arm at the shoulder and use her hand (and opposable thumbs) to hold things. That means she has a lot more freedom than she did with her first flimsy cast. Now, she can start to explore and play without making the injury worse!

"Do you think she understands the cast is to help make it better?" asked commenter @singlesobersavor. "They are so smart." What a good question! While there's no doubt that Great Apes are quite intelligent, we don't know exactly what's going through Gladys's mind.

How Does a Gorilla Break Their Arm?

It can take a pretty major injury for a healthy adult human to break their arm, but gorillas are even larger. What could have caused this zoo animal to get hurt so badly?

In April, Gladys was seen in her enclosure, not using one of her arms. This was the first time zookeepers and staff observed her following a scuffle between Gladys and two younger female gorillas, but the most likely explanation is that the injury was sustained when she fell during the fight--not from the fight itself.

Since receiving her first cast for her broken arm, Gladys has been staying behind the scenes where she could be safe and supervised. But now that she has this titanium cast, she's one step closer to being back in her own enclosure!

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