That prosthetic tail from A Dolphin’s Tale? It only cost $160,000

It’s official: that prosthetic tail worn by the dolphin in the film A Dolphin’s Tale cost more than your car. And possibly your house. If you haven’t seen the movie, a Bottlenose Dolphin loses its tail in an accident, and a kindly prosthesis expert fashions it a new one. In the film, Morgan Freeman burns through two or three prototypes before he comes across the one that works, and makes it look like he’s building nothing more expensive than a soap box derby car. In real life, though, the tail was a little more pricey.

The London Sun:

Winter the dolphin shows off her £100,000 artificial tail — which has made her a film star. Scientists there got in touch with prosthetic limb expert Kevin Carroll, who managed to craft the 2.5ft silicon tail.

And a gel he invented to soothe Winter’s skin where it meets the fake tail was so successful it is now used on human amputees.

From the Associated Press:

In this Aug. 31, photo (above), Clearwater Marine Aquarium senior marine mammal trainer Abby Stone fits Winter the dolphin with a prosthetic tail in Clearwater, Fla. The nonprofit public aquarium was about ready to go belly-up at the end of 2005 when Winter, the bottlenose dolphin was brought there after getting her tail tightly entangled in a crab-trap line.

According to this, Winter’s tail is still not as expensive as the lowest-paid member of the Miami Dolphins, linebacker Mike Rivera. But Winter is having a much better year.