The Animal Within

We examine how animals have evolved over the course of time and analyze how we can benefit from their evolution.

Humans navigate the world with five senses but we sometimes forget there aspects of this world we can't see, smell, feel, touch, or taste. But some creatures can sense what humans cannot. From animals like the red fox and sea turtle that use the earth's magnetism to get around, to those who can feel seismic vibrations like elephants; or snakes who hunt using the heat of another creature's body. These are the awesome animals who've been given access to inputs we humans can only imagine.

Speed; a major competitive strategy. While humans measure and obsess over how to achieve it in even greater quantities, for Earth's creatures who've had to adapt and evolve sometimes millions of years to achieve acceleration abilities it often means the difference between life and death. From the fastest land animal, the Cheetah, that can rival some super cars' acceleration, to the mantis shrimp that packs one of the deadliest punches, to the peregrine flacon that come at its prey out of nowhere. These animals give new definition to the need for speed!

Creating and constructing for centuries, humans aren't the only animals built to build. Though the process differs greatly across species, nature's architects hold secrets we can only dream of unlocking. Though relatively small, beavers cause massive wetland habitats to rise. Termites, the ultimate air conditioner engineers build mounds hundreds of years old. Your ordinary garden spider might not look like much, but its ability to control silk still baffles engineers. And army ants can create structures out of themselves! While most animals survive the harsh environment thrown at them, these creatures have evolved to dictate their own habitat.

The human species has long admired strength and power. While we push beyond our own physical capabilities using science and technology, the animal kingdom has evolved their bodies to achieve incredible things that humans simply dream of. Ask an engineer to build a robot that flies? No problem. Ask them to build a robot that can climb like a leopard and it's far beyond our ability. A simple animal like the dung beetle can push a prize hundreds of times its own weight across a burning desert. And one look at the armoured skin of the rhino justifies why a group of them are called a "crash." Meet some of nature's toughest!

Once we unlocked the secrets of chemistry, we felt we were masters of the Earth. But looking at these animals, it dawns that we're vastly outdone by a superior engineer; nature. Fireflies have unlocked the secret to heat-less light, while hippos create their own sunscreen. In the high north, the arctic cod has evolved to have anti-freeze in its blood, and a small stunning octopus contains enough venom in one bite to kill dozens of humans! These chemists inspire us to dream of a potential future we might attain.