What are the best practices we have learned from animals in building our environment?

Biomimicry - Taking inspiration from nature to solve human problems

Why do we need tools and shelter?

Animals and organisms found in nature protect themselves from predators and environmental circumstances by adapting physical and chemical features.  

The Anasazi built their homes underground, much like ants found in the same regions. No trees can be found in these Southwestern areas, and the only resources to build with is the Earth's soil itself, so people in this region find inspiration from the animals around them, which are ants and termites. The great pueblos the Anasazi built mimic the structure of termite and ant hills, with particular chambers for different purposes. Both Anasazi and ants/termites utilize specific underground set-ups/ventilation systems to make natural air-conditioning.

Similarly, the Korowai people of New Guinea build scaffolds in the trees to form tree houses and their inspiration comes from the animals around them, namely monkeys who also build their homes in the trees. Their ecosystem is wet and tree-dens, offering a different lens of inspiration for the residents to base their houses from in comparison to the dry region the Anasazi gain inspiration from.

In the medical world, bio-mimicry saves lives. A skin graft technology based off of the spiny head of an intestinal parasite holds to skin three times stronger than surgical tapes. This allows for the skin to grow back without any movement disrupting recovery time.

Many other fields utilize animal functions to improve technology, such as birds inspiring flight in the form of airplanes. Not only does the obvious structure of flying animals provide insight to humans for flight, but upon further inspection their molecular skeletal structure gives engineers and designers something to work with when creating lighter materials for flying machines, cars and even submarines. This is similar to the structure of the strong honeycomb, formed by bees to house their babies, contain honey and support their living structure. Engineers use the honeycomb to create lighter and stronger materials in skyscrapers.

Robotics are also a big field where biomimicry is a necessity. Without the structure of the animal brain as a model, artificial intelligence would be unheard of and robots like the wildcat (shown below) wouldn't exist without the knowledge of the structure of actual cats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auywGtQq5J0