LEADER 03479nam 2200637 a 450 001 9910457777803321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-674-06085-7 024 7 $a10.4159/harvard.9780674060852 035 $a(CKB)2550000000048082 035 $a(OCoLC)754820012 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10496845 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000536277 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11344659 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000536277 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10563598 035 $a(PQKB)11522420 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3300969 035 $a(DE-B1597)178204 035 $a(OCoLC)840443206 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780674060852 035 $a(PPN)175507198 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3300969 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10496845 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000048082 100 $a20110104d2011 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aEngineering animals$b[electronic resource] $ehow life works /$fMark Denny, Alan McFadzean 210 $aCambridge, Mass. $cBelknap Press of Harvard University Press$d2011 215 $a1 online resource (396 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-674-04854-7 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [351]-369) and index. 327 $apt. 1. Structure and movement -- pt. 2. Remote sensing. 330 $aThe alarm calls of birds make them difficult for predators to locate, while the howl of wolves and the croak of bullfrogs are designed to carry across long distances. From an engineer's perspective, how do such specialized adaptations among living things really work? And how does physics constrain evolution, channeling it in particular directions?Writing with wit and a richly informed sense of wonder, Denny and McFadzean offer an expert look at animals as works of engineering, each exquisitely adapted to a specific manner of survival, whether that means spinning webs or flying across continents or hunting in the dark-or writing books. This particular book, containing more than a hundred illustrations, conveys clearly, for engineers and nonengineers alike, the physical principles underlying animal structure and behavior.Pigeons, for instance-when understood as marvels of engineering-are flying remote sensors: they have wideband acoustical receivers, hi-res optics, magnetic sensing, and celestial navigation. Albatrosses expend little energy while traveling across vast southern oceans, by exploiting a technique known to glider pilots as dynamic soaring. Among insects, one species of fly can locate the source of a sound precisely, even though the fly itself is much smaller than the wavelength of the sound it hears. And that big-brained, upright Great Ape? Evolution has equipped us to figure out an important fact about the natural world: that there is more to life than engineering, but no life at all without it. 606 $aPhysiology 606 $aAnimals$xAdaptation 606 $aAnimal ecophysiology 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aPhysiology. 615 0$aAnimals$xAdaptation. 615 0$aAnimal ecophysiology. 676 $a591.7 700 $aDenny$b Mark$f1953-$0860431 701 $aMcFadzean$b Alan$f1958-$0749630 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910457777803321 996 $aEngineering animals$92454284 997 $aUNINA