Eagles have very strong beaks made of keratin, so like human fingernails, they are constantly growing. The beak of an eagle is almost as long as their head.


A Bald eagle named Beauty (not this eagle) was found in Alaska when she was six years old. A poacher had shot her in the face, destroying the upper portion of her beak, and left her for dead. Animal rescue workers found her before she starved to death and transferred her to the Birds of Prey Northwest in Idaho, where Jane Fink Cantwell nursed her back to health. Her beak was too damaged to grow back normally but rather than euthanizing Beauty because she could not eat, drink water, or preen on her own, Jane teamed up with mechanical engineer Nate Calvin (founder of the Kinetic Engineering group) and they went to work on designing a prosthetic beak for Beauty. In 2008 they used a 3D printer to create it. For the first time three years, Beauty was able to drink water and her preen herself again.