Artificial tail flukes were developed for a bottlenose dolphin that lost most part of the tail flukes due to a serious disease in October 2002. The dolphin named FUJI has been kept in Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium since 1975. A joint project was started to develop artificial flukes in 2003 to recover normal revel swimming ability. At the process of the development, finite element method analysis and towing test in water tank were carried out. The artificial flukes were composed of silicone rubber and inserted FRP reinforcement. FUJI recovered swimming speed and even jumping ability by the artificial tail flukes as she had before.
