Nature has always provided the impetus and reference for many innovations in the manufacturing and design process. In some cases, the construction of an item mimics a natural form. In others, the replication merely simulates the natural form or function. When first presented with this item, I was struck by the similarity (it seemed at the time) to a prehistoric bird, wrongly named the pterodactyl. You know – the scary one that is always depicted on the big screen. The actual name for this bird is pteranodon, it being a member of the pterosaur family. What caused the comparison was the reverse horn on the head of the bird. I found the shape of this tool to be strikingly similar, and could not shake the thought that the original designer may have been thinking along those lines.
