UPDATED: 7.57pm One small step for man, one big step for penguin kind.

A one footed penguin at Christchurch Antarctic Centre named Bagpipes has been fitted with a prototype 3D printed foot after losing his own to a fishing line.

Penguin keeper Mal Hackett said Bagpipes often gets pressure wounds on the bottom of his stump, so the foot will help take the weight off.

"Hopefully we can get him rehabilitated using his foot normally as he would, instead of over compensating, and using his feet and his flippers."

Ms Hackett believes the foot could be the first of its kind.

"[I] don't think anyone in New Zealand has really done anything like this on wildfire before. It's nice to be able to try it out in an environment that's controlled, so we can keep an eye on any issues."

The next step will be to make the new foot as comfortable as they possibly can, she said. 

She said one of the other keeper's partner works with Don Clucas at the University of Canterbury, so they put their heads together to make the little blue penguin a foot.

The project is said to have taken 30 hours.