The ability to hold tightly and stay on the surface is necessary for all land animals. We need traction in order to walk on smooth surfaces or handle slippery objects. Indentations in shoe soles and tires, non-slip surfaces on steps, ribbed tool handles and on bicycle handlebars are all designed to provide greater roughness. Look what nature has come up with for this.

The paws of white hare hares are surrounded by fluffy “mats” on their feet, so their weight is better distributed and they can walk on soft snow. It is not difficult to guess what the person did when he noticed this feature. These are snowshoes - shoes for hunters - which are created according to exactly the same principle: they distribute the weight of a person’s body over a larger surface. Skis also use the same principle.

When chasing prey, cheetahs can reach speeds of up to 100 km/h.

Long, constantly extended claws help animals stay on loose ground. Sharp spikes on the soles of spikes - shoes designed for running - give the sprinter additional stability on the treadmill and help to accelerate faster.

Mussels are mollusks that live on open sea shores.

To avoid being washed away by waves or dried out by the sun during low tide, they stick to the rocks. They succeed in this thanks to their wide, muscular feet, which are able to firmly adhere to the surface of the rock. During high tide, the mollusks crawl around in search of food, but as soon as the tide goes out, they again hide in their shells and attach themselves to the surface of the rock. And thanks to the suction cups on the octopus’ tentacles, the prey is compressed like a vice. Watching these octopuses and mollusks, man invented “his” suction cups.

To keep our clothes well, we use fasteners. Humanity has been using laces, buckles and buttons for thousands of years, but more recently two more inventions have appeared - the zipper and Velcro. They made the process of getting dressed faster and easier. Both innovations are based on connecting objects using small hooks, the idea of ​​which is taken from nature.

In 1957, the common burdock inspired the Swiss engineer Georges de Mestral to invent Velcro. One day he noticed a burdock sticking to his clothes. The plant was covered with tiny hooks. Having spent eight whole years on his invention, Georges de Mestral created “Velcro” - a synthetic material made from two nylon strips. One strip is covered with tiny loops, and the second with tiny hooks. When they are put together, they stick tightly to each other, but can easily separate again.

Bird feathers lift their owners when air flows over their smooth surface. A feather consists of thousands of tiny fibers attached along its shaft. Each villus is equipped with microscopic hooks. They adhere in such a way that they create a smooth, dense surface of the pen. The hooks on the barb of a bird's feather often become separated during flight. Birds clean their feathers by burying their beaks in them and connect the hooks again.

Based on this, the zipper was invented. Inside the zipper there are wedges that either connect or separate the teeth. These teeth hook tightly and securely to each other. This is how we got one of the most convenient fasteners.

Burning passages - tunnels must run horizontally and parallel to the surface of the earth, be ventilated, not flooded or collapse. Gophers dig long labyrinths connected to each other. The main thing in these structures is good air circulation, so they build volcano-like ventilation towers. People could not help but adopt this invaluable experience.

The Channel Tunnel was built on the principle of gopher labyrinths, and this is one of the most complex engineering structures of the twentieth century. It is designed for high-speed rail transport of passengers and goods between the UK and France.

Animals were the first to use cement in buildings. Termites build their tall houses from natural cement by mixing saliva, sand and excrement. The resulting material is very strong. The large termite mound reaches a height of seven meters and can only be destroyed with the help of dynamite.

Beavers block small rivers with dams, creating dams. Their dams are so well built that they can last for centuries. People build dams to create large artificial reservoirs containing millions of liters of water.

The blue whale, the largest animal on the planet, feeds on small crustaceans, as if filtering them from sea water. Sieves, seines and whale mouths all operate on the same principle: they separate objects of different sizes by passing them through grates.

The sundew is an insectivorous plant whose leaves are covered with protruding glands with sticky droplets at the ends. The droplets look like nectar and thereby attract insects, which stick to the insect as soon as they touch it.

The sticky leaves of the sundew prompted the invention of an easy and safe way to destroy pests that infect crops. A sticky trap is made from a strip of yellow plastic with glue applied to the surface. Many harmful insects are attracted by the yellow color, and when they land on the strip, they firmly stick to it and die.

The two halves of the crossbill's beak cross at the end, so the birds can wield them like scissors. The shape of their strong beak is perfectly adapted to splitting the hard scales of a pine cone and then removing the grains hidden there. The principle of operation of scissors is the same, except that their blades are fastened with a screw in the center.

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