14 Unexpectedly Amazing Creatures We Share The World With

The Earth is a wild and amazing place, full with millions of fascinating species that most of us have never even heard of. Nature never ceases to astound us with all it has to give. Whether it's a stunning sunset, a flower-filled garden, or charming creatures, there's always something fresh that takes our breath away.

A nocturnal owl with camouflage wings. Barn owls are specialists in prey detection using acoustic information. The flight apparatus of this bird of prey is most efficiently adapted to the hunting behavior by reducing flight noise. An understanding of the underlying mechanisms owls make use of could help minimize the noise disturbances in airport or wind power plant neighborhood. Here, we characterize wings of barn owls in terms of an airfoil as a role model for studying silent flight. This characterization includes surface and edge specialization (serrations, fringes) evolved by the owl. Furthermore, we point towards possible adaptations of either noise suppression or air flow control that might be an inspiration for the construction of modern aircraft.