Materialise to Print Life-Size Mammoth in Biggest SLA Project Ever

3D design of the mammoth

Gertjan Brienen, Project Manager at Materialise, says “The scale of the project is challenging, particularly because we had to bring different experts together, including engineers, paleontologists and finishing specialists, and align our vision of the finished model, all while meeting tight deadlines. The original skeleton presents some inaccuracies which reflect the knowledge at the time of the original mounting 150 years ago. One example is the length of its tail, which we now know is shorter than initially thought. The original mammoth skeleton is also missing a few bones, including its left tusk. We mirrored the right tusk and recreated it in Materialise 3-matic to achieve a more precise replica than the wooden tusk that was used to complete the original skeleton. The broken upper jaw was also restored accurately by mirroring the original bone structure. This means the 3D-printed mammoth will be more scientifically accurate than the original."