There's actually a lot of research money and time put into the field called biomimetics.
One of the more publicized examples of this research was Stickybot [1], a gecko-inspired robot that can climb vertical surfaces. Commercial examples in robotics are not hard to find either: Boston Dynamics' robots, ASIMO, Festo's Seagull UAV etc.
The Ortiz Lab does fascinating research [2] on the material properties of exoskeletons.
One of the more publicized examples of this research was Stickybot [1], a gecko-inspired robot that can climb vertical surfaces. Commercial examples in robotics are not hard to find either: Boston Dynamics' robots, ASIMO, Festo's Seagull UAV etc.
The Ortiz Lab does fascinating research [2] on the material properties of exoskeletons.
Then there's the study of the camouflage exhibited by cephalopods. This video report on Science Friday is worth watching: http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201108053
[1] http://bdml.stanford.edu/twiki/bin/view/Rise/StickyBot [2] http://web.mit.edu/cortiz/www/