'Dolphin Tale' The True Story Behind

The movie "Dolphin Tale" is based on a true story about a dolphin that survives a horrific accident thanks to the help of a small band of dedicated scientists. Though the poster for the film includes the likes of Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, and Morgan Freeman, the true star of the flick is Winter the dolphin, who is playing herself in the movie.

Back in the winter of 2005 when Winter was a mere three months old, she became entangled in a crab trap. A rope from the trap became wrapped around her tail and all of her efforts to escape just made the injuries worse. Normally, this would have been the end of Winter -- thousands of dolphins die every year in the same way — but she was lucky. Winter was discovered by a fisherman and eventually transported to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. There marine biologists were forced to remove the mangled tail. They also named her Winter for the season when she was discovered.

The odds of survival for a dolphin with a missing tale are very low. The rear fins are like legs for a human; they get the marine mammals from point A to point B. If Winter were to survive, even in an aquarium, she needed a prosthetic. Many of the challenges of making an artificial leg and making an artificial tail are similar: The design and geometry of the prosthetic has to work for the amputee and it need to attach comfortably and snugly. The only difference is that no one had ever tried to make an artificial limb for a dolphin.