The 20-year-old male turtle, named after a busy road in central Bangkok, this week became the first turtle in Thailand to get a man-made shell, Reuters reported on Saturday.

"It's like a little helmet," veterinarian Nantarika Chansue said of the turtle's new fiberglass shell.

Rama IX, who lived in a pond beside the busy thoroughfare, was crossing the road when a pickup truck ran over him in October last year.

Two-thirds of his natural shell was smashed in the accident, shards of it piercing his lungs and other internal organs, Nantarika said.

Nantarika used wire and superglue at a Chulalongkorn University animal clinic to attach the man-made shell on Friday, protecting him from leeches and egg-laying insects during the year it will take his real shell to grow back.

She said she would care for the turtle at home until his shell grew back, allowing the fiberglass one to drop off naturally.

Nantarika plans to release him into the wild once his shell has grown back.

"There's a mango orchard where I usually release my injured turtles," she said.

Rama IX is adjusting well to his new shell.

"I can make him stick his head out now," she said, laughing. "He used to be so afraid of me at first because I stuck so many needles in him."