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The World’s Top Olympians
The World’s Top Olympians H. Donald Wolpert Bio-Optics, 1933 Comstock Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA
Prospectus Animals, insects, and birds are capable of some amazing feats of speed, jumping, weight carrying, and endurance capabilities. As Olympic contestants, the records of these competitors challenge and, in many cases, exceed the best of human exploits and inspire us to emulate natural mechanisms and functionalities.
Keywords Animal, Animal Olympians, Bioinspira tion, Bio mimicry, Insect and bird record holders
high speeds in a short distance, whereas others are long-distance experts, in it for the long haul. Cheetahs (Figure 1), the sprint-champion species of the animal kingdom, have been clocked at 70–75 mph. Their stride can reach 10 yards when running at full tilt. It is said they can reach an impressive 62 mph from a standing start in 3 s [1]. The peregrine falcon is often cited as the fastest bird, cruising at 175 mph and diving in attacks at 217 mph. But in level horizontal flight,
1 INTRODUCTION Some of the world’s top Olympians are not who you might imagine. They are the animals, insects, and birds that inhabit the Earth. The feats they achieve are truly worthy of Olympic medals. In this prolog to Engineered Biomimicry, the exploits of insects, animals, and birds in the sprint, middle-distance, and long-distance events; their training at high altitudes; records in the long-jump and high-jump categories; records in swimming and diving events; and record holders in free-weight and clean-and-jerk contests are discussed.
2 SPRINTS, MIDDLE-DISTANCE, AND LONG-DISTANCE EVENTS Like the hare and tortoise, there are Olympic athletes that are sprinters, capable of reaching
FIGURE 1 Cheetah. (Image Courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gary M. Stolz)
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FIGURE 2 Pronghorn antelope. (Image Courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Leupold James)
the white-throated swift, topping out at 217 mph, is the all-around winner [2]. In the marathon you would most likely see the pronghorn antelope (Figure 2) on the award stand. The pronghorn weighs about as much as a grown human but can pump three times as much blood, which is rich in hemoglobin. It has extra-large lungs and a large heart, which provides much-needed oxygen to its m uscles [3]. Aerobic performance is often evaluated on the basis of the maximal rate of oxygen uptake during exercise in units of milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of mass per minute. An elite human male runner might measure in the 60’s or low 70’s, whereas a cross-country skier may be in the low 90’s. But the pronghorn antelope tops out at about 300 ml/kg/min [3, 4]. The wandering albatross, in a different marathon class, would leave the competition in the dust. Satellite imagery has revealed that these birds, with a wing span of 12 ft, travel between 2,237 and 9,321 miles in a single feeding trip, often sleeping on the wing. If the race were handicapped for size and weight, the ruby-throated hummingbird and monarch butterfly would rank in the top tier. The ruby-throated hummingbird, being faster, flies 1,000 miles between seasonal feeding grounds, 500 of those miles over the featureless Gulf of Mexico. On average the male hummingbird has a mass of 3.4 g. The monarch butterfly (Figure 3),
FIGURE 3 Monarch butterfly. (Image Courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
with a mass of a mere 2–6 g, migrates 2,000 miles, flying up to 80 miles per day during its migration between Mexico and North America. There are two types of human ultra-marathoners: those that cover a specific distance (the most common are 50 km and 100 km) and those who participate in events that take place over a specific interval of time, mainly 24 h or multiday events. These events are sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federation. Although they are not sanctioned as Olympic contenders, there are some contenders in the animal kingdom that are in line for first place in the ultra-marathon. The Arctic tern (Figure 4) flies from its Arctic breeding grounds in Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in the Antarctic and back
FIGURE 4 Arctic tern. (Image Courtesy of Estormiz)
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again each year, a 19,000-km (12,000-mile) journey each way. The longest nonstop bird migration was recorded in 2007. A bar-tailed godwit flew 7,145 miles in nine days from its breeding grounds in Alaska to New Zealand. Without stopping for food or drink, the bird lost more than 50% of its body mass on its epic journey [5].
3 HIGH-ALTITUDE TRAINING In the autumn, the bar-headed goose migrates from its winter feeding grounds in the lowlands of India to its nesting grounds in Tibet. Like Olympic long-distance runners that train at high altitudes, the bar-headed goose develops mitochondria that provide oxygen to supply energy to its cells. This journey takes the bar-headed goose over Mount Everest, and the bird has been known to reach altitudes of 30,000 ft to clear the mountain at 29,028 ft. At this altitude, there is only about a quarter of the oxygen available that exists at sea level and temperatures that would freeze exposed flesh [6]. Other high-altitude trainers are whooper swans, which have been observed by pilots at 27,000 ft over the Atlantic Ocean. The highest flying bird ever observed was a Ruppell’s griffon that was sucked into the engines of a jet flying at 37,900 ft above Ivory Coast [6].
4 LONG JUMP AND HIGH JUMP There are two basic body designs that enable animals to facilitate their jumping capabilities. The long legs of some animals give them a leveraging power that enables them to use less force to jump the same distance as shorter-legged animals of the same mass. Shorter-legged animals, on the other hand, must rely on the release of stored energy to propel themselves. And then there are those animals that combine the features of both approaches.
FIGURE 5 American bullfrog. (Image Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gary M. Stolz)
The red kangaroo, with a capacity to jump 42 ft, and the Alpine chamois that can clear crevasses 20 ft wide and obstacles 13 ft high, certainly have impressive jumping capabilities. But when you handicap animals, you discover that bullfrogs, fleas, and froghoppers vie for the title of best jumper. One long-jump specialist is the American bullfrog (Figure 5). Trained for the Calaveras Jumping Frog Jubilee held annually in Angeles Camp, California (USA), Rosie the Ribeter won the event in 1986 with a recorded jump of 21 ft 5¾ in. Muscles alone cannot produce jumps that good. The key to the frog’s jumping ability lies in its tendons. Before the frog jumps, the leg muscle shortens, thereby loading energy into the tendon to propel the frog. Its long legs and energy-storing capabilities are key to the jumping capabilities of Rosie the Ribeter [2, 5]. Although not a record holder, the impala or African antelope (Figure 6) is a real crowd pleaser. This animal, with its long, slender legs and muscular thighs, is often seen jumping around just to amuse itself, but when frightened it can bound up to 33 ft and soar 9 ft in the air [1]. The leg muscles of the flea are used to bend the femur up against the coxa or thigh, which contains resilin. Resilin is one of the best materials known for storing and releasing energy
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FIGURE 6 Impala. (Image Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mimi Westervelt)
efficiently. Cocked and ready, a trigger device in the leg keeps it bent until the flea is ready to jump. Its jumping capability is equal to 80 times its own body length, equivalent to a 6-ft-tall person jumping 480 ft! Once thought to be the champion of its class, the flea has lost its ranking as top jumper to the froghopper [7]. The froghopper or spittle bug jumps from plant to plant while foraging. To prepare to jump, the insect raises the front of its body by its front and middle legs. Thrust is provided by simultaneous and rapid extension of the hind legs. The froghopper exceeds the height obtained by the flea relative to its body length (0.2 in., or 5 mm) despite its greater weight. Its highest jumps reach 28 in. A human with this capability would be able to clear a 690-ft building [2, 8].
included the fastest return migration of any known marine animal [9]. The Shinkansen bullet train runs from Osaka to Hakata, Japan, through a series of tunnels. On entering a tunnel, air pressure builds up in front of the train; on exiting, the pressure wave rapidly expands, causing an explosive sound. To reduce the impact of the expanding shock wave and to reduce air resistance, design engineers found that the ideal shape for the Shinkansen is almost identical to a kingfisher’s beak. Like any good Olympic diver, the kingfisher streamlines its body and enters the water vertically, thereby minimizing its splash and leading to a perfect score of 10. Taking inspiration from nature, the Shinkansen engineers designed the train’s front end to be almost identical in shape to the kingfisher’s beak, providing a carefully matched pressure/ impedance match between air and water [10] (Figure 7). Without a dive platform, Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales can execute foraging dives that are deeper and longer than those reported for any other air-breathing species. Cuvier’s beaked whales dive to maximum depths of nearly 6,230 ft with a maximum duration of 85 min; the Blainville’s beaked whale dives to a
5 SWIMMING AND DIVING Birds are not the only long-distance competitors. A great white shark pushed the envelope for a long-distance swimming event by swimming a 12,400-mile circuit from Africa to Australia in a journey that took nine months. This trip also
FIGURE 7 Kingfisher. (Image Courtesy of Robbie A)
THE WORLD’S TOP OLYMPIANS
maximum depth of 4,100 ft. Other Olympic dive contestants are sperm whales and elephant seals. The sperm whale can dive for more than 1 h to depths greater than about 4,000 ft, and it typically dives for 45 min. The elephant seal, another well-known deep diver, can spend up to 2 h in depths over 5,000 ft, but these seals typically dive for only 25–30 min to depths of about 1640 ft [11].
6 PUMPING IRON Olympic weightlifting is one of the few events that separates competitors into weight classes. In the +231 lb class, a competitor might lift weights approximately 2.2 times his body weight. The average bee, on the other hand, can carry something like 24 times its own body weight, and the tiny ant is capable of carrying 10–20 times its body weight, with some species able to carry 50 times their body weight [2]. Ounce for ounce, the world’s strongest insect is probably the rhinoceros beetle (Figure 8). When a rhinoceros beetle gets its game face on, it can carry up to 850 times its own body weight on its back [12].
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7 CONCLUDING REMARKS When you consider some of the running, jumping, flying, diving, and weightlifting capabilities of some animals, insects, and birds, you have to be awed. Many of Earth’s creatures are certainly worthy of world-class status and could certainly vie for Olympic gold medals. How exactly do these animals and insects achieve their fabulous performances? The answer to this question is not necessarily clear, but through multidisciplinary research we are beginning to comprehend these Olympic achievements. Although the ability to swim or fly long distances is an achievement in itself, what is more intriguing is how some animals navigate day and night, in bad weather or clear and over large distances. How elapsed time, distance traveled, and the sun’s position are used in this navigation process is important to understand. Visual clues such as star patterns and the sun’s position, along with the time of day, may be used solely or used in conjunction with other aids in navigation. For some creatures, the Earth’s magnetic field or sky polarization is as important as any navigational aid. Some or all of these tools may be used to crosscalibrate one navigation tool to another in order to more precisely locate an animal’s or insect’s position and determine its heading. The more we study natural approaches to problems, the more we will discover clever solutions to vexing problems.
References
FIGURE 8 European rhinoceros beetle. (Image Courtesy of George Chernilevsky)
[1] Cheetah, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah (accessed 27 January 2013). [2] B. Sleeper, Animal Olympians. Animals, July/August 1992. [3] M. Zeigler, The world’s top endurance athletes ply the US plains, San Diego Union Tribune, 2 July 2000. [4] National Geographic, Geographia, May 1992. [5] Frogs’ amazing leaps due to springy tendons, http:// news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2011/11/frogs (accessed 27 January 2013).
xxiv THE WORLD’S TOP OLYMPIANS [6] G.R. Scott, S. Egginton, J.G. Richards, and W.K. Milsom, Evolution of muscle phenotype for extreme high altitude flight in the bar-headed goose, Proc R Soc Lond B 276 (2009), 3645–3654. [7] The flea, the catapult and the bow, http://www.ftexploring.com/lifetech/flsbws1.html (accessed 27 January 2013). [8] M. Burrows, Biomechanics: Froghopper Insects Leap to new heights, Nature 424 (2003), 509. [9] Animal record breakers, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/photos/animal-recordsgallery/ (accessed 27 January 2013). [10] The Shinkansen bullet train has a streamlined forefront and structural adaptations to significantly reduce noise
resulting from aerodynamics in high-speed trains, http://www.asknature.org/product/6273d963ef015b98 f641fc2b67992a5e (accessed 27 January 2013). [11] Beaked whales perform extreme dives to hunt deepwater prey, Woods Hole News Release, October 19, 2006, http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=9779&tid=3622 &cid=16726 (accessed 27 January 2013). [12] Geek Wise, What is the strongest animal, http://www. wisegeek.com/what-is-the-strongest-animal.htm (accessed 27 January 2013).
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
H. Donald Wolpert obtained a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio University in 1959 and then began an industrial career.
He worked for E.H. Plesset Associates on electrooptic devices; Xerox Electro-Optical Systems on laser scanners; and TRW and TRW-Northrop Grumman on three-dimensional imaging and the design and development of electro-optical space payloads. Early on, he became interested in bio-optics, on which subject he continues to publish many articles and deliver many lectures and seminars.
Prospectus Animals, insects, and birds are capable of some amazing feats of speed, jumping, weight carrying, and endurance capabilities. As Olympic contestants, the records of these competitors challenge and, in many cases, exceed the best of human exploits and inspire us to emulate natural mechanisms and functionalities.
Keywords Animal, Animal Olympians, Bioinspira tion, Bio mimicry, Insect and bird record holders
high speeds in a short distance, whereas others are long-distance experts, in it for the long haul. Cheetahs (Figure 1), the sprint-champion species of the animal kingdom, have been clocked at 70–75 mph. Their stride can reach 10 yards when running at full tilt. It is said they can reach an impressive 62 mph from a standing start in 3 s [1]. The peregrine falcon is often cited as the fastest bird, cruising at 175 mph and diving in attacks at 217 mph. But in level horizontal flight,
1 INTRODUCTION Some of the world’s top Olympians are not who you might imagine. They are the animals, insects, and birds that inhabit the Earth. The feats they achieve are truly worthy of Olympic medals. In this prolog to Engineered Biomimicry, the exploits of insects, animals, and birds in the sprint, middle-distance, and long-distance events; their training at high altitudes; records in the long-jump and high-jump categories; records in swimming and diving events; and record holders in free-weight and clean-and-jerk contests are discussed.
2 SPRINTS, MIDDLE-DISTANCE, AND LONG-DISTANCE EVENTS Like the hare and tortoise, there are Olympic athletes that are sprinters, capable of reaching
FIGURE 1 Cheetah. (Image Courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gary M. Stolz)
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xx THE WORLD’S TOP OLYMPIANS
FIGURE 2 Pronghorn antelope. (Image Courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Leupold James)
the white-throated swift, topping out at 217 mph, is the all-around winner [2]. In the marathon you would most likely see the pronghorn antelope (Figure 2) on the award stand. The pronghorn weighs about as much as a grown human but can pump three times as much blood, which is rich in hemoglobin. It has extra-large lungs and a large heart, which provides much-needed oxygen to its m uscles [3]. Aerobic performance is often evaluated on the basis of the maximal rate of oxygen uptake during exercise in units of milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of mass per minute. An elite human male runner might measure in the 60’s or low 70’s, whereas a cross-country skier may be in the low 90’s. But the pronghorn antelope tops out at about 300 ml/kg/min [3, 4]. The wandering albatross, in a different marathon class, would leave the competition in the dust. Satellite imagery has revealed that these birds, with a wing span of 12 ft, travel between 2,237 and 9,321 miles in a single feeding trip, often sleeping on the wing. If the race were handicapped for size and weight, the ruby-throated hummingbird and monarch butterfly would rank in the top tier. The ruby-throated hummingbird, being faster, flies 1,000 miles between seasonal feeding grounds, 500 of those miles over the featureless Gulf of Mexico. On average the male hummingbird has a mass of 3.4 g. The monarch butterfly (Figure 3),
FIGURE 3 Monarch butterfly. (Image Courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
with a mass of a mere 2–6 g, migrates 2,000 miles, flying up to 80 miles per day during its migration between Mexico and North America. There are two types of human ultra-marathoners: those that cover a specific distance (the most common are 50 km and 100 km) and those who participate in events that take place over a specific interval of time, mainly 24 h or multiday events. These events are sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federation. Although they are not sanctioned as Olympic contenders, there are some contenders in the animal kingdom that are in line for first place in the ultra-marathon. The Arctic tern (Figure 4) flies from its Arctic breeding grounds in Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in the Antarctic and back
FIGURE 4 Arctic tern. (Image Courtesy of Estormiz)
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again each year, a 19,000-km (12,000-mile) journey each way. The longest nonstop bird migration was recorded in 2007. A bar-tailed godwit flew 7,145 miles in nine days from its breeding grounds in Alaska to New Zealand. Without stopping for food or drink, the bird lost more than 50% of its body mass on its epic journey [5].
3 HIGH-ALTITUDE TRAINING In the autumn, the bar-headed goose migrates from its winter feeding grounds in the lowlands of India to its nesting grounds in Tibet. Like Olympic long-distance runners that train at high altitudes, the bar-headed goose develops mitochondria that provide oxygen to supply energy to its cells. This journey takes the bar-headed goose over Mount Everest, and the bird has been known to reach altitudes of 30,000 ft to clear the mountain at 29,028 ft. At this altitude, there is only about a quarter of the oxygen available that exists at sea level and temperatures that would freeze exposed flesh [6]. Other high-altitude trainers are whooper swans, which have been observed by pilots at 27,000 ft over the Atlantic Ocean. The highest flying bird ever observed was a Ruppell’s griffon that was sucked into the engines of a jet flying at 37,900 ft above Ivory Coast [6].
4 LONG JUMP AND HIGH JUMP There are two basic body designs that enable animals to facilitate their jumping capabilities. The long legs of some animals give them a leveraging power that enables them to use less force to jump the same distance as shorter-legged animals of the same mass. Shorter-legged animals, on the other hand, must rely on the release of stored energy to propel themselves. And then there are those animals that combine the features of both approaches.
FIGURE 5 American bullfrog. (Image Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gary M. Stolz)
The red kangaroo, with a capacity to jump 42 ft, and the Alpine chamois that can clear crevasses 20 ft wide and obstacles 13 ft high, certainly have impressive jumping capabilities. But when you handicap animals, you discover that bullfrogs, fleas, and froghoppers vie for the title of best jumper. One long-jump specialist is the American bullfrog (Figure 5). Trained for the Calaveras Jumping Frog Jubilee held annually in Angeles Camp, California (USA), Rosie the Ribeter won the event in 1986 with a recorded jump of 21 ft 5¾ in. Muscles alone cannot produce jumps that good. The key to the frog’s jumping ability lies in its tendons. Before the frog jumps, the leg muscle shortens, thereby loading energy into the tendon to propel the frog. Its long legs and energy-storing capabilities are key to the jumping capabilities of Rosie the Ribeter [2, 5]. Although not a record holder, the impala or African antelope (Figure 6) is a real crowd pleaser. This animal, with its long, slender legs and muscular thighs, is often seen jumping around just to amuse itself, but when frightened it can bound up to 33 ft and soar 9 ft in the air [1]. The leg muscles of the flea are used to bend the femur up against the coxa or thigh, which contains resilin. Resilin is one of the best materials known for storing and releasing energy
xxii THE WORLD’S TOP OLYMPIANS
FIGURE 6 Impala. (Image Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mimi Westervelt)
efficiently. Cocked and ready, a trigger device in the leg keeps it bent until the flea is ready to jump. Its jumping capability is equal to 80 times its own body length, equivalent to a 6-ft-tall person jumping 480 ft! Once thought to be the champion of its class, the flea has lost its ranking as top jumper to the froghopper [7]. The froghopper or spittle bug jumps from plant to plant while foraging. To prepare to jump, the insect raises the front of its body by its front and middle legs. Thrust is provided by simultaneous and rapid extension of the hind legs. The froghopper exceeds the height obtained by the flea relative to its body length (0.2 in., or 5 mm) despite its greater weight. Its highest jumps reach 28 in. A human with this capability would be able to clear a 690-ft building [2, 8].
included the fastest return migration of any known marine animal [9]. The Shinkansen bullet train runs from Osaka to Hakata, Japan, through a series of tunnels. On entering a tunnel, air pressure builds up in front of the train; on exiting, the pressure wave rapidly expands, causing an explosive sound. To reduce the impact of the expanding shock wave and to reduce air resistance, design engineers found that the ideal shape for the Shinkansen is almost identical to a kingfisher’s beak. Like any good Olympic diver, the kingfisher streamlines its body and enters the water vertically, thereby minimizing its splash and leading to a perfect score of 10. Taking inspiration from nature, the Shinkansen engineers designed the train’s front end to be almost identical in shape to the kingfisher’s beak, providing a carefully matched pressure/ impedance match between air and water [10] (Figure 7). Without a dive platform, Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales can execute foraging dives that are deeper and longer than those reported for any other air-breathing species. Cuvier’s beaked whales dive to maximum depths of nearly 6,230 ft with a maximum duration of 85 min; the Blainville’s beaked whale dives to a
5 SWIMMING AND DIVING Birds are not the only long-distance competitors. A great white shark pushed the envelope for a long-distance swimming event by swimming a 12,400-mile circuit from Africa to Australia in a journey that took nine months. This trip also
FIGURE 7 Kingfisher. (Image Courtesy of Robbie A)
THE WORLD’S TOP OLYMPIANS
maximum depth of 4,100 ft. Other Olympic dive contestants are sperm whales and elephant seals. The sperm whale can dive for more than 1 h to depths greater than about 4,000 ft, and it typically dives for 45 min. The elephant seal, another well-known deep diver, can spend up to 2 h in depths over 5,000 ft, but these seals typically dive for only 25–30 min to depths of about 1640 ft [11].
6 PUMPING IRON Olympic weightlifting is one of the few events that separates competitors into weight classes. In the +231 lb class, a competitor might lift weights approximately 2.2 times his body weight. The average bee, on the other hand, can carry something like 24 times its own body weight, and the tiny ant is capable of carrying 10–20 times its body weight, with some species able to carry 50 times their body weight [2]. Ounce for ounce, the world’s strongest insect is probably the rhinoceros beetle (Figure 8). When a rhinoceros beetle gets its game face on, it can carry up to 850 times its own body weight on its back [12].
xxiii
7 CONCLUDING REMARKS When you consider some of the running, jumping, flying, diving, and weightlifting capabilities of some animals, insects, and birds, you have to be awed. Many of Earth’s creatures are certainly worthy of world-class status and could certainly vie for Olympic gold medals. How exactly do these animals and insects achieve their fabulous performances? The answer to this question is not necessarily clear, but through multidisciplinary research we are beginning to comprehend these Olympic achievements. Although the ability to swim or fly long distances is an achievement in itself, what is more intriguing is how some animals navigate day and night, in bad weather or clear and over large distances. How elapsed time, distance traveled, and the sun’s position are used in this navigation process is important to understand. Visual clues such as star patterns and the sun’s position, along with the time of day, may be used solely or used in conjunction with other aids in navigation. For some creatures, the Earth’s magnetic field or sky polarization is as important as any navigational aid. Some or all of these tools may be used to crosscalibrate one navigation tool to another in order to more precisely locate an animal’s or insect’s position and determine its heading. The more we study natural approaches to problems, the more we will discover clever solutions to vexing problems.
References
FIGURE 8 European rhinoceros beetle. (Image Courtesy of George Chernilevsky)
[1] Cheetah, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah (accessed 27 January 2013). [2] B. Sleeper, Animal Olympians. Animals, July/August 1992. [3] M. Zeigler, The world’s top endurance athletes ply the US plains, San Diego Union Tribune, 2 July 2000. [4] National Geographic, Geographia, May 1992. [5] Frogs’ amazing leaps due to springy tendons, http:// news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2011/11/frogs (accessed 27 January 2013).
xxiv THE WORLD’S TOP OLYMPIANS [6] G.R. Scott, S. Egginton, J.G. Richards, and W.K. Milsom, Evolution of muscle phenotype for extreme high altitude flight in the bar-headed goose, Proc R Soc Lond B 276 (2009), 3645–3654. [7] The flea, the catapult and the bow, http://www.ftexploring.com/lifetech/flsbws1.html (accessed 27 January 2013). [8] M. Burrows, Biomechanics: Froghopper Insects Leap to new heights, Nature 424 (2003), 509. [9] Animal record breakers, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/photos/animal-recordsgallery/ (accessed 27 January 2013). [10] The Shinkansen bullet train has a streamlined forefront and structural adaptations to significantly reduce noise
resulting from aerodynamics in high-speed trains, http://www.asknature.org/product/6273d963ef015b98 f641fc2b67992a5e (accessed 27 January 2013). [11] Beaked whales perform extreme dives to hunt deepwater prey, Woods Hole News Release, October 19, 2006, http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=9779&tid=3622 &cid=16726 (accessed 27 January 2013). [12] Geek Wise, What is the strongest animal, http://www. wisegeek.com/what-is-the-strongest-animal.htm (accessed 27 January 2013).
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
H. Donald Wolpert obtained a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio University in 1959 and then began an industrial career.
He worked for E.H. Plesset Associates on electrooptic devices; Xerox Electro-Optical Systems on laser scanners; and TRW and TRW-Northrop Grumman on three-dimensional imaging and the design and development of electro-optical space payloads. Early on, he became interested in bio-optics, on which subject he continues to publish many articles and deliver many lectures and seminars.