Fascinating look at how technology can be integrated to help various types of wildlife, contains interesting facts on the different types of animals discussed and compelling stories on how technology has helped each of them. Would be biomedical engineers, animal lovers and STEM fans will be inspired.

Bionic Beasts: Saving Animal Lives with Artificial Flippers, Legs, and Beaks by Jolene Gutiérrez is currently scheduled for release on October 6 2020. What happens when a young elephant steps on a buried land mine, or when a sea turtle’s flipper is injured by a predator? Thanks to recent advances in technology, we have new ways to design and build prosthetic body parts that can help these animals thrive. Readers will meet an Asian elephant named Mosha, a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle named Lola, a German Shepherd named Cassidy, a greylag goose named Vitória, and Pirate, a Berkshire-Tamworth pig. Each of these animals was struggling, but through a variety of techniques and technologies, humans created devices that enabled the animals to live and move more comfortably. Discover the stories of how veterinarians, doctors, and even students from around the world used 3D printing and other techniques to build bionic body parts for these amazing animals.

Bionic Beasts: Saving Animal Lives with Artificial Flippers, Legs, and Beaks is an inspiring look at what people can do to help animals live a better life. I had seen some of these stories before, mostly as part of documentaries or animal shows on television, but this book gave me a much better appreciation for the care, determination, and craftsmanship that was required to make these things happen. The thought, ingenuity, and trial and error that went into improving the lives of these animals was inspiring and can lead the scientific and medical communities to even better solutions and advances in the future. I thought the writing was well done and accessible to readers, and the layouts of the pages balanced text and images nicely. I really liked that there were experiments for readers to try, and a quality resources in the endpages for engaged readers.

Bionic Beasts: Saving Animal Lives with Artificial Flippers, Legs, and Beaks is a great read for animal loves and inspiring scientists of all kinds.

A neat blend of cute animals and medical science, I think this will be a perfect one for getting my animal obsessed 7 year old interested in learning about things she hasn’t yet, if it means some day she can help animals. Plenty of color pictures, this would be one she’d likely read to herself.

Uplifting stories of scientists working to help animals with injuries or birth defects to improve their quality of life.

This was a very detailed non-fiction book about different animals who have had prosthetic parts of their bodies made to help them have a better life. It was amazing that science can complete this many ways to help animals. I would recommend this to higher level readers and higher elementary/lower middle school readers, especially. Really though, I enjoyed reading it as an adult.

If your children enjoyed the movie Dolphin Tale, they will enjoy this book. Budding scientists or young animal advocates will also appreciate the information about advances in animal prosthetic development.

This book follows the story of several animals who’d been injured or born with abnormalities that hindered their quality of life. Scientists, veterinarians, prosthetists p, 3-D designers, and in some cases, students, worked together to improve their quality of life. Their teamwork is inspiring, as is their dedication to continually improve and fit these animals with new prostheses as they grow. You will meet Mosha the elephant, Lola the sea turtle, Pirate the pig, Vitoria a greylag goose and others.

Vitoria, the goose, was injured and most of her beak was missing. She had become thin because she had difficulties eating without a proper beak. Learn how a veterinarian hospital in Brazil created a new beak for her.

Color photographs and simple experiments are included to give students an idea of the difficulties that need to be overcome to help design and create the animals’ prosthetics.

I would say this book is geared toward older elementary to junior high because they will encounter some higher level scientific vocabulary such as osseointegration and endoprothesis. .

I received an ARC copy of this book for Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Bionic Beasts is a very well-done nonfiction book about the advancement in new technology to build prosthetics for animals. I loved the organization of the text. Each subsection focused and a real-life animal and its story. It showed how the prosthetic was built to help the animal survive and thrive in nature. In addition, there were experiments where readers themselves could participate in what scientists when through to try to help each of these animals. This text would be the best fit for an upper-elementary/middle school reader.