Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle

Awarded the AAAS/SUBARU SB&F PRIZE for EXCELLENCE in SCIENCE BOOKS and 5 other children's book awards!

"Three words. 3D. Printed beak. Oh come on, you aren't impressed? Well, check out the back matter on this book and you will be. It's insane!" —School Library Journal

Beauty and the Beak is the incredible true story about an injured wild bald eagle who received a pioneering, 3D-printed beak—and made world news! Follow Beauty close up and in photographs, from the moment she uses her baby beak to emerge from her egg, through her hunt when she uses her powerful adult beak to feed herself, to the day her beak is illegally shot off, leaving her helpless. This brave and uplifting story continues through her rescue, into the months of engineering her 3D-printed prosthetic beak and intense hours of her beak surgery, to the moment she takes the first drink of water by herself with her new beak.

Beauty and the Beak captures the spirit and courage of this amazing bird and America’s national symbol—whose species was nearly wiped out by human activity, only to be restored and thriving because of environmental conservation and human compassion. This book will resonate with those who have their own stories of other animals endangered or in need, and humans, from young children to military veterans, in need of prosthetic limbs, who are being given new lives with state-of-the-art devices.

The book includes expanded information about bald eagles as a top predator species, their near extinction in most of the U.S., their successful reintroduction back into the wild, and efforts to conserve this critical raptor species today.