See the Komodo over there? This place is not really made for people that are my height. We are getting ready for a procedure on a great Indian hornbill. We are going to remove a tumor from her cask, which is the portion on top of the beak. It looks like a square extension of the beak, and we are going to take that off and replace it with a prosthetic. Hi Crescent! How are you doing? You gonna come over? Do you want some goodies? Christian first presented with a change to the appearance of the cast as we watched her for a little bit longer. We noticed that it was growing. So we took a piece of the cast and sent it in for analysis and diagnosed cancer. Squamous Cell Carcinoma. What we have here is a 3D printed head and cast of Crescent. She had a CT performed and using those images, they were able to recreate her entire skull. This red portion is what they can say definitively is tumor tissue. This portion right here in pink is abnormal tissue. But we don’t know for sure whether it’s actually a tumor or if it’s just an infection. To be safe, we’re going to take it all or replace it with a prosthetic. Do you want a grape? Good girl. I’ve worked with Chrissy since I started at Zootampa, which now is over 13 years. Thank you. And she’s been here for over 20. So I got to build up a really great relationship with her. I feel and her the biggest thing with Crescent for me at least, is her personality. She’s especially for me, very sweet. Sometimes. What are you hearing from the other keepers? How much of a terror she can be sometimes with them Thank you. I have nothing but sweet things to say about her. Okay, girl. All right. So we can actually leave this this way because we won’t have her on the ventilator initially, but I am going to want her on the rebreather so that it’s easier to switch over. This cancer in this location in horn bills is not uncommon. And unfortunately, prior to a couple of cases ago, did not have a great prognosis. All right. Do we want to move this inside now? Probably because the rest of it doesn’t really need to be sterilized. This is only the second time that this kind of procedure has ever been performed. The first of its kind was done in Singapore. And that bird is doing really, really well. So we’re hoping for the same outcome for in the dental acrylic we have got, right? Yeah. Yeah. That’ll be the last step. If this procedure is successful, then we have the chance to continue to give Cresent 25 plus years here at Zootampa. Good girl.
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