{"id":939456,"date":"2026-05-05T14:07:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/939456\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T14:07:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:07:31","slug":"monarto-safari-park-hyena-gets-gold-coloured-crown-in-dental-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/939456\/","title":{"rendered":"Monarto Safari Park hyena gets gold-coloured crown in dental treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Monarto Safari Park’s hyenas is flashing his new golden smile after a dental procedure to fix his deformed teeth and restore biting abilities.<\/p>\n

Zoos SA recently gave three-year-old Jabali a custom-made gold-coloured crown after they noticed the carnivore was struggling to chew properly.<\/p>\n

Veterinarian Dr Oliver Funnell told 891 ABC Adelaide the dental problems started after Jabali was bitten over his muzzle \u2014 the top part of his nose \u2014 when he was a four-month-old cub.<\/p>\n

Dr Funnell said zookeepers were aware the injury could cause deformities in the spotted hyena’s jaw as he grew older.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The crown is made from metal alloy strong enough to withstand the hyena’s powerful bite. (Supplied: Zoos SA)<\/p>\n

“We could tell as he got sort of two years plus, that he was struggling a little bit to do normal hyena stuff, which is a lot of chewing on bones and things like that,” Dr Funnell said.<\/p>\n

A full head CT scan revealed some teeth needed to be removed or restored.<\/p>\n

Dr Funnell said hyenas have one of the “strongest bites in the animal kingdom”.<\/p>\n

“A large part of their diet is bones, and they can even chew right through a giraffe leg bone,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

“So if we’re going to sort of cap one of his teeth, we need something that can really handle the pressure.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jabali undergoes dental procedure. (Supplied: Zoos SA)<\/p>\n

Monarto Safari Park enlisted the help of specialist Kirsten Hailstone at Adelaide Veterinary Dentistry and Oromaxillofacial Services, who created the crown from metal alloy that appeared gold when it catches the light.<\/p>\n

“This particular premolar didn’t have a proper enamel coating, so it was either going to have to be removed or it would just disintegrate,” Dr Funnell said.<\/p>\n

“But what we could do is plane it down a little bit, or Kirsten \u2014 I’m not clever enough for that \u2014 but Kirsten could manufacture a crown that will go over the top.<\/p>\n

“That will protect this tooth, make it functional and allow him to do hyena stuff.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A metal alloy crown was made custom to Jabali’s jaw plaster cast. (Supplied: Zoos SA)<\/p>\n

Dr Funnell said the mammal was under anaesthesia and some laughing gas for five to six hours during the assessment and treatment.<\/p>\n

“It was quite a long day for him because he had to be transported down to the property at Glen Osmond, unconscious,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So he was anaesthetised at Monarto Safari Park, in a specially designed crate, fully unconscious all the way there and back.”<\/p>\n

Dr Funnell said Jabali was “in a good place” since the surgery and has a distinctive smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Monarto Safari Park’s hyenas is flashing his new golden smile after a dental procedure to fix…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":939457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[42112,25555,231434,262494,262492,262499,262495,262493,70,262498,262497,16,15,1717,262496],"class_list":{"0":"post-939456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-crown","9":"tag-dental","10":"tag-dental-surgery","11":"tag-dr-oliver-funnell","12":"tag-hyena","13":"tag-jabali","14":"tag-kirsten-hailes","15":"tag-monarto-safari-park","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-spotted-hyena","18":"tag-teeth-problems","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-wildlife","22":"tag-zoos-sa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116522362553002411","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}