Flipper gets a Formula One fin

[Taro Toporific]

Dolphin Gets Rubber Fin
WJXX, FL - Nov 16
By First Coast News Staff. JAPAN -- A tire manufacturer has developed an artificial fin which will help dolphins who lose their fins.
The technology developed by tire manufacturer Bridgestone, better known for their involvement with Formula One auto racing, has saved a disabled dolphin allowing it to return to swimming freely in the water.... with her artificial tail fin made of sponge rubber and carbon fiber.... the tail for Fuji did not come cheap. Bridgestone spent about $95-thousand dollars on the project.

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

Why didnt they just kill the bloody Dolphin, Take a video of it send it to Sea sheapards and they would be $10G in the black.

[Mulboyne]

Two and a half years later...

[floatr][/floatr]Scientific American: Japan dolphin all smiles after prosthetic tail
A Japanese dolphin is squealing with delight after receiving a prosthetic tail to replace one amputated due to a skin disease. Fuji's handlers at the Churaumi Aquarium in Japan's southern most island of Okinawa say the fake tail may have saved her life as she had put on dangerous amounts of weight from being inactive after she lost her tail. "Because she was not exercising enough (after her tail was amputated) she gained weight and from blood samples we took we realized that her cholesterol levels were too high. We then were afraid that this might trigger other diseases so we had to come up with something," handler Masaya Koami said. The tail was custom made for Fuji by a friend of the handler who works at Japan's leading tire company Bridgestone. The rubber prosthetic device is slightly smaller than the tail of a dolphin of Fuji's size. It is made of material used for Formula One race car tires and the black silicon rubber was reinforced with artificial bone made of carbon-fiber. Sponge rubber was used for parts that come directly in contact with Fuji's skin. Bridgestone said they spent at least 10 million yen (about $83,000) to develop and produce the fin. As for Fuji, the freedom that it brought her is priceless. After initially being frightened of it, the dolphin now leaps and swims with vigor.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Well, shit, if it helps with losing weight and lowering colesterol, maybe I ought to get one. Speaking of colesterol, I think I'll head over to Familymart and get a bento.