0:00:02 > 0:00:03Animals are amazing.
0:00:03 > 0:00:05That's astonishing.
0:00:05 > 0:00:09And the more we find out about them, the more amazing they seem.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11That feels pretty harsh.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13That's why scientists all over the world
0:00:13 > 0:00:16are trying their best to copy them.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19This is the future! Making brand-new inventions...
0:00:19 > 0:00:21Tomato juice.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24..based on what animals can do.
0:00:24 > 0:00:25Some are astounding.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27We've just dived under the sea!
0:00:27 > 0:00:28Some bizarre.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30This is not at all pleasant.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34Yes! It's gone!
0:00:34 > 0:00:38But they're all inspired by the miracles of nature.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42Episode three.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46How scientists designed this
0:00:46 > 0:00:48by watching this.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52In 1485,
0:00:52 > 0:00:57Leonardo da Vinci designed a flying machine by studying birds.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59You would think that by now,
0:00:59 > 0:01:01more than 100 years after we first invented aircraft,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05after airliners and jet fighters and spacecraft,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08there wouldn't be much left we could learn from birds
0:01:08 > 0:01:11about flying...but you'd be wrong.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Take this bird, for instance
0:01:17 > 0:01:19He has a lot to teach us.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24Even though his big body and relatively small wings
0:01:24 > 0:01:28make him look about as likely to get off the ground as I am.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38This is Cody, and he is a cape vulture.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42And these are not being worn for fashion reasons.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44That's a really big beak
0:01:44 > 0:01:48and eyes are kind of tempting, apparently.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53'But to find out what makes cape vultures like Cody
0:01:53 > 0:01:57'so special, I'm going to need to get higher.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01'Quite a lot higher.'
0:02:14 > 0:02:17It's about 500 metres down there.
0:02:17 > 0:02:22And shortly, I shall be jumping off the edge
0:02:22 > 0:02:26with nothing but the contents of that man's rucksack
0:02:26 > 0:02:29between me and certain doom.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31That's assuming he's brought the right rucksack
0:02:31 > 0:02:35and we don't jump off the edge with his flask and some sandwiches.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41'Walter Nesser is a vulture expert.
0:02:41 > 0:02:47'Unfortunately for me, he also happens to be an expert paraglider.'
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Oh, now I feel secure.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53- That's it.- That's it?- Yeah.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00I don't want to wait too long, Walter, I really don't.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Just don't... I just want to... Oof!
0:03:03 > 0:03:06- All right, the wind is really good, are you ready?- No.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Let's go.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Oh! My God!
0:03:22 > 0:03:26- Now you can sit back in the harness. - Oh, sitting back in the harness?
0:03:26 > 0:03:30- You doing all right? - I'm scared...on an Olympic scale.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32All right, have a look up to your left.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Whoa!
0:03:34 > 0:03:36There's millions!
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Look at them now, they're coming to join us!
0:03:40 > 0:03:43We are circling with them, it's astonishing!
0:03:43 > 0:03:45We're in the same thermal that they are.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49Ah, this is incredible.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Vultures find it hard to get off the ground.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01But if they launch themselves off cliffs, like we've just done,
0:04:01 > 0:04:06they can use updrafts of wind to simply soar.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11Seeing them on the ground,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14you wouldn't believe they were such good fliers.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20And yet, here they are doing it - elegantly, beautifully.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25It sounds impossible, but they make it look easy.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Up here, in these columns of rising air,
0:04:29 > 0:04:33those short, stubby wings give them a big advantage.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36They've got these reduced spans, but still with good performance.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39And you need to be really manoeuvrable.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43So, you need to be able to turn inside this tight bubble of air.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47And that is probably why their wings are so small.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53With the wind doing the work to keep them up,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56they just need to be able to turn really quickly,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59making sure they stay where the updraft is.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03And it's those astonishing abilities
0:05:03 > 0:05:07that have inspired an entirely new form of human transport.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20This is the Super Aviator.
0:05:22 > 0:05:23But it's not what you think.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Despite the name and the aerodynamic appearance,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32this is a plane that will never leave the ground.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Got my head in a fruit bowl, that's nice.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Because it's not designed for the skies.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44It's built to go underwater.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55The Aviator's owner, John Jo Lewis,
0:05:55 > 0:06:01has offered to take me for my first flight beneath the waves.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Forward thrust.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Commencing our dive.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13- We just dived under the sea!- Woo!
0:06:20 > 0:06:22So, Rabbit. I have to call you Rabbit, yeah?
0:06:22 > 0:06:24We've got handles and everything.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Yeah, that's right. We try and pick a two syllable word,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30- and I've been Rabbit for quite a while.- OK, Rabbit.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33- What am I?- You're Hamster now.- Nice.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36- Thanks.- Actually, you've always been Hamster.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Yeah, OK. That's familiar. All right, so we are now...
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Let me get this right - flying
0:06:41 > 0:06:44- even though we are under water. - Exactly right.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47And literally, our wings are on upside down,
0:06:47 > 0:06:48it's as simple as that.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51That's right. Rather than keeping us up like an airplane,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54it keeps us down... like a flying submarine.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57'And down is where we're going.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00'Down to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.'
0:07:02 > 0:07:05You've put us in a descent down into a valley.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09And there we go.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13And it's here that Rabbit shows me
0:07:13 > 0:07:16just what the Super Aviator is capable of.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29This is magnificent!
0:07:42 > 0:07:44'And as we circle and descend,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47'the link with our birds becomes obvious.'
0:07:49 > 0:07:52So, what we are is an upside down vulture under the sea.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55And the reason we're like a vulture is we have quite a large body
0:07:55 > 0:07:58in proportion to which, quite small, stubby wings.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Yeah. They're short which keeps us manoeuvrable and allows us to go
0:08:01 > 0:08:04into tight places, manoeuvre around wrecks
0:08:04 > 0:08:06and not bump into anything.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10In the same way that a vulture needs to have short wings
0:08:10 > 0:08:13so it can be manoeuvrable and turn and stay inside those thermals.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16You couldn't do this with long wings on your flying submarine.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20That's right. That really is what allows us to have
0:08:20 > 0:08:21the manoeuvrability that we do.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28We've swapped the lift of a thermal for the buoyancy of water.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32It's a mirror image of what happens in the air.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36Like the vulture, the Aviator needs quite a lot of energy
0:08:36 > 0:08:38to get it away from the surface.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42But once it's down there, that vulture technology
0:08:42 > 0:08:44enables it to simply glide.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50And now a big old climb starts.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54Steep ride back.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57Oh! That feels pretty harsh.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02- 100 feet.- Oh, yeah.
0:09:04 > 0:09:0580 feet.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08That's a pretty a extreme feeling
0:09:08 > 0:09:10when you see the top, the surface of the sea getting closer
0:09:10 > 0:09:15- and closer.- 50 feet.- It's like driving at a wall.- 20 feet.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18We're about to broach.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23And there is the surface! That's... Ah!
0:09:23 > 0:09:25It feels pretty good.
0:09:28 > 0:09:33Amazing! A submarine based on the way a vulture flies.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38That's got to be one of the miracles of nature.