Lesson RC 7-5 - Mimics

People have taken many ideas from nature. These ideas have been used to make human life easier. Some of the greatest inventions are based on ideas borrowed from the animal world.

Humans got ideas for making their earliest weapons from the natural weapons of the animals they observed. The sharp teeth and claws of wild animals were patterns for spears and knives. Even the pistol, a more modern weapon, had its likeness in the animal world. The Asiatic archerfish has a natural water pistol that it uses to shoot insects out of the air.

Watching birds fly gave humans the idea and the desire for flight. People have used these ideas to build machines in which they can fly. Motorless gliders copy the flight patterns of birds such as the albatross whose large wings enable it to soar aloft on air currents. The principles used by jet planes can be viewed in nature, too. The squid and the octopus use jets of water to propel themselves quickly through water.

Whenever you use an electric appliance, you probably think that electricity was invented by humans. However, long before the battery or generator was invented, some creatures of nature were using electric power. The electric eel, found in South American waters, is a living electric battery. It is a large fish and produces a strong electric charge. It can disable its prey with as much as a six-hundred-volt shock.

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Questions:

1. People have taken many ideas from

a. their dreams
b. history
c. nature

2. These inventions are used to

a. make human life easier
b. help the animals
c. entertain

3. Patterns for spears and knives were

a. the Asiatic archerfish
b. teeth and claws
c. the electric eel

4. What was a pattern for the pistol?

a. the Asiatic archerfish
b. teeth and claws
c. the electric eel

5. Motorless gliders copy

a. the Asiatic archerfish
b. the octopus
c. the albatross

6. What animal uses jets to propel itself?

a. the Asiatic archerfish
b. the octopus
c. the albatross

7. What animal is a living electric battery?

a. the Asiatic archerfish
b. the squid
c. the electric eel

8. The electric eel is found in

a. South American waters
b. the waters of the Great Lakes
c. Asian waters

9. The electric eel disables its prey with as much as a

a. four-hundred-volt shock
b. six-hundred-volt shock
c. eight-hundred-volt shock

10. This story tells about

a. animals we have taken ideas from
b. the history of inventions
c. new inventions on the way

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