---
title: "Fred the Tortoise Gets New Shell, Thanks to 3D Printing"
description: "After surviving a forest fire in Brazil, a tortoise named Fred received a 3D printed shell made of corn plastic."
date: "2016-05-25"
modified: "2016-05-25"
authors:
  - name: "Jelor Gallego"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jelor-gallego"
url: "https://futurism.com/tortoise-gets-new-shell-thanks-to-3d-printing"
categories:
  - "3D Printing"
  - "Future Materials"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "3d printing"
  - "Animal Avengers"
  - "animal welfare"
  - "tortoise"
---

# Fred the Tortoise Gets New Shell, Thanks to 3D Printing

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Adorable-tortoise-receives-a-3D-printed-shell-after-being-burnt-in-a-fire-A.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: YouTube/InsideEdition \</em\>*

A tortoise in Brazil just received a unique gift: [a 3D printed shell](<http://www.sciencealert.com/adorable-tortoise-receives-a-3d-printed-shell-after-being-burnt-in-a-fire>). The tortoise, named Fred, was found with 85% of its shell burnt in a forest fire.

The group who came to Fred's rescue, called the "Animal Avengers," is a volunteer animal group consisting of a 3D designer, four veterinarians, and a dental surgeon. They had to virtually reconstruct all of the creature's shell, due to the extensive damage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIiXqyoxZEA

[The 3D designers took](<http://abcnews.go.com/International/tortoise-burned-fire-custom-3d-printed-shell/story?id=39306133>) 40 photographs each of Fred and a healthy tortoise and then used computer programming to design a custom prosthetic shell that was printed, layer by layer, by a 3D printer. Printed in four, jigsaw-like pieces, the shell was made using inexpensive corn-based plastic.

The prosthetic shell was then surgically attached to Freddy. An artist even hand-painted the outside of the shell so that it blended in with nature.

This is not the group's first [3D project](<https://futurism.com/category/robots-and-machines>), having also created artificial beaks for three injured toucans, a parrot, and a goose.