Flamingo receives ‘world first’ artificial leg

A flamingo has received a special kind of leg-up after it was fitted with a prosthetic limb in what zookeepers believe is a world first.

The pink bird fractured his leg last month at a zoo in Sorocaba, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, The Associated Press reported.

“To prevent an infection from setting in and spreading to the rest of his body, which would have killed him, we decided to amputate the leg and give him the prosthesis,” zoo veterinarian Andre Costa said.

Mr Costa said they were unsure how the bird had broken his leg but that one of the “clumsy pelicans” in the bird’s enclosure could have bashed into him.

A local prosthesis manufacturer donated the seven-inch carbon limb.

The zookeepers believe he is the first bird to receive an artificial limb.