Flexible, 3D-Printed Turtle Eggs Help Stop Poachers in Their Tracks

Application: Cast for prosthetic turtle egg decoys
Material used: NinjaFlex^® 3D Printer Filament
Industry: Education

Can a 3D printer filament help to protect and preserve an endangered species? In many parts of the world, sea turtle eggs are a prized delicacy. As a result, illegal poaching and a hungry black market trade have taken a toll on global turtle populations.

Kim Williams-Guillen is an ecologist with the conservation group Paso Pacifico. Kim realized the only way of stopping the illegal trade was to find where the eggs go once they’ve been plucked from their nests. Her team devised an ingenious solution: GPS-enabled decoys that are able to track the eggs from beach to market! That’s where NinjaTek® 3D printing filaments came in …

The team called upon Hollywood special effects artist Lauren Wilde for help to ensure the eggs had the same look and feel as a real egg. Wilde used our highly flexible TPU filament, NinjaFlex, to create a 3D printed cast for her prosthetic decoy.

Working together with law enforcement, they will be able to use information gathered from the fake eggs to focus on outreach and help put an end to an illegal poaching network.