Technical term for "copy-catting nature"

There is a term for copy-catting nature for practical situations such as cars, systems, etc. For example an engineering project where some part is designed according to bird wing. This methodology of using nature as a model for something has some technical name but I cannot remember it now. What is it?

Solution 1:

Biomimetics is the study of the structure, function and processes of biological organisms and/or systems as models for the design and engineering of materials and machines. It is widely regarded as being synonymous with biomimicry, biomimesis, biognosis and similar to biologically inspired design.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomimetics