Category: Birds – Goose

Problem:

Many kids around the world live in remote out of the way places and have to walk many miles to get to school each week.

Biomimicry Idea:

Mimic a mallard duck and how it migrates to different places. Create a school that “migrates” like a mallard duck so kids will have better access to school. The mallard duck migrates depending on the season. The migrating school migrates depending on the day. Each day it goes to a different place and students who live nearby will walk there, and students who live farther away will get picked up on the way. Ducks store the food they eat in a structure called a crop. The bus’s crop would store supplies in  overhead compartments. To save paper the bus features white boards on the back of each seat. Where the mallard duck migrates they find the resources they need in their new home.  The bus will park in a place like this where there is food, bathrooms, and shelters for the students. The bus will have a small bathroom in the back though.

How does nature time the mallard duck’s migration?

During the summer months, mallard ducks fly north to breed. In the winter, during non-breeding months, they go south. Ducks know by changes of weather and changes in the length of sunlight when the seasons are changing, and therefore when to migrate.

Problem:

Homeless people don’t have enough places to sleep.

Biomimicry Idea:

Bald Eagles build huge strong nests at tops of trees. My idea is to create big eagle like nests for the homeless to give more shelter. These nests/beds will be a few feet off the ground. Volunteers will help build these huge nests/beds out of sticks and logs that will be brought from fallen trees, logs, and sticks that are found in forests and surrounding areas. These shelters will be beautiful and natural, and a nice place to be.

 

           Eagle nest housing platform for people needing temporary shelter.

How does nature help the Bald Eagle?

Nature helps Bald Eagles build big nests by giving them strong wings and talons. Another thing that helps Bald Eagles is they have a big body to help hold big sticks to use for nests. Bald Eagles often build more than one nest and rotate which nest they use.  This helps keep the nests clean of pests and gives them options of another place to go if their nest tree is damaged.

Problem:

The sun has many different damaging effects; one of which is harmful rays and direct light to our eyes. We need to protect our eyes from the sun’s UV rays or it can cause cataracts for example.

Biomimicry Idea:

Use the anatomical design of the eagles skull to mimic a pair of sunglasses that protect our eyes from above and the sides so that the harmful UV rays from the sun don’t hurt our eyes.

                                            Eagle Eye sunglasses

           Place a visor over your eye and get Eagle strength sun protection.

How does nature help a Bald Eagle sit in the direct sunlight and not hurt their eyes?

 The skull of the Bald Eagle has an upper ridge built into the skeleton that acts like a visor or awning over the eyes. This ridge protects the Eagle’s eyes from the harmful UV rays that they are exposed to constantly on the top of trees in their nest and while flying searching for food, circling on    protection detail, or possibly flying around for fun. No matter what the reason, they are protected from the sun with a built in “sun visor”. Humans can duplicate or mimic this visor to make a  better design for sunglasses protecting our  own eyes from the sun’s harmful rays.