It’s common for animals to lose their body parts due to terrible accidents. Fortunately, some can get them replaced with prosthetics. Take Mosha the Asian elephant for example! She lived a three-legged life for 10 long years after stepping on a land mine on the Burmese border when she was only 7 months old. But now, Mosha gets to walk on all fours thanks to her prosthetic leg.
During a visit, a Thai surgeon noticed that Mosha was walking in an abnormal way. He stressed that it could bend her spine and later lead to her death. He took immediate action and made Mosha’s first prosthetic leg when she was 2 years old. Since then, Mosha has had nine prosthetic legs to keep up with her growing frame. However, making a prosthetic leg for a fully grown elephant was not an easy task. Ten years ago, Mosha weighed less than 907 kg, but she now weighs more than twice that much.
Mosha isn’t the only elephant to receive a prosthetic leg. Next in line was Motola, another resident at the Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation (FAE) hospital. It is the world’s first elephant hospital, and it’s currently treating 17 patients.