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Life can be hard for a three-legged panda. Nui Nui can’t eat easily, she can’t defend herself and her love life has gone out of the window because she can’t keep herself stable - which, as pandas are an endangered species, is bad news for more than just the bear herself.

As Dr Heath told Radio Five Live though, this is a job that’s considerably bigger than they’re used to.

"We’ve made several [prostheses] for dogs who have lost their limbs because of accidents and we’ve had a considerable level of success.

"We knew we’d got experience with animals, which is quite rare in the prosthetics world, so we thought there’s no reason why we can’t transfer that technology to another species and applied to the Chinese authorities to say we felt we had a good chance of helping Nui Nui."

Dr Heath and the prostheses

And Nui Nui needs help quickly, as she’s in real danger of starving without it, as Dr Heath explains.

"Unfortunately, pandas use both hands for eating, and with one paw, she finds it very difficult to grasp the bamboo and eat it at the same time."

Unlike human prostheses, Nui Nui’s new limb won’t look like a panda’s paw, though Dr Heath is sure that won’t matter to her.

"At the end of the day, the function elements have to come first, before the cosmetic, and I’m pretty certain Nui Nui won’t know exactly what it will look like.

"But it will look reasonably similar. In essence, it is going to be an extension to her paw, a mechanism that will hopefully aid feeding as well as walking."

A giant panda using its paws to eat

Dr Heath does see one problem. As Nui Nui is a panda, she can’t have her new limb explained to her and there is a chance that the team will have to make more than one, in case she tries to eat it!

"We’re debating it at the moment; because she’s a wild animal who isn’t too easily trained, she may well reject it by means of trying to chew it.

"So maybe what we’ll do is make some less expensive versions which she can start of with for basic walking, then a definitive walking and eating device can be given at the end, when she is used to it."

It remains to be seen whether or not Nui Nui will be able to use her new paw, but Dr Heath is confident she has the best of chances.

"The walking should be straight forward. We know from [our work with] dogs that they adapt very quickly, a lot quicker than humans. When we have put artificial limbs on dogs, they have adapted within a few minutes and started walking."

All of which points to Nui Nui being back in action and ready to mate when she comes into season next March – meaning that Salford’s scientists won’t just have made one bear’s life a little better, they’ll have helped the cause of an entire species.