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18 Biomimetics: Biologically Inspired Technologies

Figure 1.12 An armor used as a body protection for knights can be viewed as mimicking the turtle’s hard-shell
body cover.

also occur when interacting with certain creatures, such as the bee. In the case of the bee, the stinger
is left in the penetrated area and does not come out because of its spear shape. Humans adapted and
evolved the concept of sharp penetrators in order to create many tools for applications in medicine,
sports, and weaponry. These tools include the syringe, spears, fishing hooks, stings, barbs, and
many others. Once penetrated, the hook and barb section on the head of a harpoon or an arrow
makes it difficult to remove the weapon from the body of fish, animal, or human being.

1.5.4.4 Decoy

The use of decoy is as ancient as the lizard’s use of its tail as a method to distract the attention of
predators. The lizard autotomizes its tail and the tail moves rapidly, diverting the attention of the
suspected predator while the lizard escapes to safety. This method is quite critical to lizard’s
survival and the tail grows back again without leaving a scar. This capability is not only a great