Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear prosthetic tails. Meet Mr. Stubbs, an American alligator that lost its tail several years ago while being illegally transported by a group of animal-traffickers.

After being found in the back of a semi-truck loaded with other exotic animals in 2013, Mr. Stubbs was brought to the Phoenix Herpetological Society. He was then fitted with his first prosthetic tail, made from the cast of a similarly-sized dead alligator’s appendage.

This method proved to be a bit clunky, as each gator has a center of mass and buoyancy specific to itself. Using a prosthetic from a molding of another alligator’s tail didn’t give Mr. Stubbs the best opportunity to easily move about. As the gator matured,