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  • Cleopatra the tortoise gets a 3D-printed shell

    by 
    Mariella Moon
    Mariella Moon
    03.30.2015

    Please don't jump on Cleopatra if you meet her. She isn't a real life red-shelled Koopa Troopa -- she's just wearing a 3D-printed prosthesis. See, Cleo the tortoise suffers from pyramiding, which means her shell has thick, pyramid-like growths due to poor nutrition. It also has holes and broken parts that could be injured and infected, especially since tortoises socialize and mate by climbing on top of each other. That's why Roger Henry, a student from Colorado Technical University, designed a 3D-printed shell for Cleo.