3D Printing By Nature
Many different living things have their own biological form of 3D
printing. Humans have their nails and hair, for example. Horns,
hooves and teeth of rodents and lagomorphs are added to the
shells of mollusks and shellfish to lobsters, beetles, and turtles.
Don't forget the quills of porcupines, the beaks of birds, platypus,
and cephalopods, claws all around, and spines and scales. The more
I think, the more there are.
Honeybees extrude wax from their own
bodies to build the honeycomb, and caterpillars and spiders
make their own silk. There are birds, such as the cave
swiftlet, that use their saliva to build their nest.
Planet Wild - Cave Swiftlets
Humans are continually learning from the ingenuity of natures
adaptations. Mimicking nature has given us many insights into
material and structural engineering.
Secrets of the conch shell and its toughness
Then, there are the organisms that use their structure as a 3D
printer. There are insects, mud dauber, paper, and many other
wasps and hornets among them.
Mud Dauber Wasp Time-lapse
images: biocreativity.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/img_0533.jpg
video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj5_p4oY1jI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEMBmllitbg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK-0PjVZeDw
We can actually use 3D printing to reshape turtle shells that have been cracked (usually by car accidents). The biological applications are amazing!
What materials are used?
Usually some resilient form of plastic. They used to hand sculpt ceramic pieces to fix shells but obviously churning them out is much easier (and quicker, if a turtle is missing part of the shell you don't wanna keep it waiting!).
I've seen an eagle and 3D printed limbs for pets. Here is a toucan
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn4OScxJWdQ
Freakin' amazing