lpetrich
Contributor
I once compiled a big list of such technologies, but I could no longer find it. So I have decided to try to re-create it.
Mechanical
Abrasives (millstones, files for scraping, sandpaper, abrasive powder) - molar teeth, radulas (mollusk abrasive "tongues"), phytoliths (abrasive grains in some plants)
Air conditioning - some termite nests have passive A/C
Awls, other piercing tools - canine teeth, claws
Armor - hardened skin and shells of numerous animals; tree bark, nut shells
Barbed wire - thorns and spines
Chisel - rodent incisors
Clothing - (body parts) hair, feathers, (external) hermit crabs' shells, caddisfly-larva cases
Dams - beavers make them
Housing - dens, nests, hives, beaver lodges
Levers - limb joints
Nutcrackers - jaws
Piston pumps - hearts (not a true piston, but changes interior volume)
Projectile weapons (thrown spears, bows and arrows, guns)- archerfish (Toxotidae); they squirt water at their prey
Scissors - incisor teeth
Sonar - bats and cetaceans use it
Suction cups - cephalopods have them on their tentacles
Syringes - insect mouthparts for sucking blood
Traps and baits
Snap trap - Venus Flytrap
Flypaper - Sundew and other sticky-leaf carnivorous plants
Pitfall trap - Pitcher plants and similar carnivorous plants; ant lions make pits to catch ants
Gated trap (lobster pots, etc.) - some aquatic carnivorous plants
Bait - anglerfish
Shoe soles - hooves
Transport
Gliders - "flying" squirrels, lemurs, lizards, etc.
Jet propulsion - cephalopods
Movable control surfaces for flying and swimming
Oars - fins
Parachutes - fluff and wings on seeds, spiders making silk strands
Powered flight - insects, birds, bats, pterosaurs
Propellers - rotary flagellum (many bacteria have them)
Wheels for land locomotion - tumbleweeds
Wings
Chemical
Antifreeze - made by a variety of organisms that live at the freezing point of water
Catalysts - enzymes
Glue - mussels and barnacles use it
Electrolytic cells - photosynthetic water splitting: 2H2O + energy -> 2H2 + O2
Fuel cells - respiratory chain, roughly: 2H2 + O2 -> 2H2O + extracted energy
Plastics - biological polymers
Poisons - numerous
Electronic, magnetic
Ampifier gain control - middle-ear muscles
Compass - magnetite grains that some organisms have
Photovoltaic cell - photosynthetic antenna complexes
Optical
Bifocals - some fish have double-focus eyes, enabling them to easily see both above and below water
Color camera - color vision, arthropods and vertebrates separately
Lens camera - lens-camera eye, vertebrates and cephalopods separately
Polarizer - some insects can see light polarization
Agriculture
Dairy farming - ants caring for aphids and drinking their honeydew
Food-plant/food-fungus farming - ants that grow fungus gardens
Food storage - honeybees storing pollen and nectar/honey, squirrels burying nuts, putting on fat, enlarging roots to make tubers, making fleshy seeds, etc.
Communication
Billboards - flowers
Camouflage - numerous
Warning colors and patterns - numerous
Standard choices - Muellerian mimicry, like stinging insects having yellow and black stripes
Behavioral and Social
Celestial navigation - migrating birds by stars, honeybees by sky polarization
Clocks - circadian rhythms
Dating - courtship, mating behavior
Elections - honeybee hive-site selection when swarming (Some bees search for good sites, return, dance to indicate their location, and other bees follow. The swarm then goes to whichever site attracts the most interest from the hive-site visitors.)
Games - animal play
Perfumes - pheromones
Romantic serenades, love songs, etc. - birds, frogs, insects
Self-euthanasia (maybe including honor suicide - hara-kiri or seppuku) - apoptosis or Programmed Cell Death
Stink bombs - skunk smell
Slavery - some species of ants enslave members of other ant species, complete with the enslaved ants sometimes doing slave revolts
Suicide bombing / kamikaze attacks - worker honeybees dying from their stingers being pulled out as they fly away from their targets
Warfare - ants, chimpanzees
Mechanical
Abrasives (millstones, files for scraping, sandpaper, abrasive powder) - molar teeth, radulas (mollusk abrasive "tongues"), phytoliths (abrasive grains in some plants)
Air conditioning - some termite nests have passive A/C
Awls, other piercing tools - canine teeth, claws
Armor - hardened skin and shells of numerous animals; tree bark, nut shells
Barbed wire - thorns and spines
Chisel - rodent incisors
Clothing - (body parts) hair, feathers, (external) hermit crabs' shells, caddisfly-larva cases
Dams - beavers make them
Housing - dens, nests, hives, beaver lodges
Levers - limb joints
Nutcrackers - jaws
Piston pumps - hearts (not a true piston, but changes interior volume)
Projectile weapons (thrown spears, bows and arrows, guns)- archerfish (Toxotidae); they squirt water at their prey
Scissors - incisor teeth
Sonar - bats and cetaceans use it
Suction cups - cephalopods have them on their tentacles
Syringes - insect mouthparts for sucking blood
Traps and baits
Snap trap - Venus Flytrap
Flypaper - Sundew and other sticky-leaf carnivorous plants
Pitfall trap - Pitcher plants and similar carnivorous plants; ant lions make pits to catch ants
Gated trap (lobster pots, etc.) - some aquatic carnivorous plants
Bait - anglerfish
Shoe soles - hooves
Transport
Gliders - "flying" squirrels, lemurs, lizards, etc.
Jet propulsion - cephalopods
Movable control surfaces for flying and swimming
Oars - fins
Parachutes - fluff and wings on seeds, spiders making silk strands
Powered flight - insects, birds, bats, pterosaurs
Propellers - rotary flagellum (many bacteria have them)
Wheels for land locomotion - tumbleweeds
Wings
Chemical
Antifreeze - made by a variety of organisms that live at the freezing point of water
Catalysts - enzymes
Glue - mussels and barnacles use it
Electrolytic cells - photosynthetic water splitting: 2H2O + energy -> 2H2 + O2
Fuel cells - respiratory chain, roughly: 2H2 + O2 -> 2H2O + extracted energy
Plastics - biological polymers
Poisons - numerous
Electronic, magnetic
Ampifier gain control - middle-ear muscles
Compass - magnetite grains that some organisms have
Photovoltaic cell - photosynthetic antenna complexes
Optical
Bifocals - some fish have double-focus eyes, enabling them to easily see both above and below water
Color camera - color vision, arthropods and vertebrates separately
Lens camera - lens-camera eye, vertebrates and cephalopods separately
Polarizer - some insects can see light polarization
Agriculture
Dairy farming - ants caring for aphids and drinking their honeydew
Food-plant/food-fungus farming - ants that grow fungus gardens
Food storage - honeybees storing pollen and nectar/honey, squirrels burying nuts, putting on fat, enlarging roots to make tubers, making fleshy seeds, etc.
Communication
Billboards - flowers
Camouflage - numerous
Warning colors and patterns - numerous
Standard choices - Muellerian mimicry, like stinging insects having yellow and black stripes
Behavioral and Social
Celestial navigation - migrating birds by stars, honeybees by sky polarization
Clocks - circadian rhythms
Dating - courtship, mating behavior
Elections - honeybee hive-site selection when swarming (Some bees search for good sites, return, dance to indicate their location, and other bees follow. The swarm then goes to whichever site attracts the most interest from the hive-site visitors.)
Games - animal play
Perfumes - pheromones
Romantic serenades, love songs, etc. - birds, frogs, insects
Self-euthanasia (maybe including honor suicide - hara-kiri or seppuku) - apoptosis or Programmed Cell Death
Stink bombs - skunk smell
Slavery - some species of ants enslave members of other ant species, complete with the enslaved ants sometimes doing slave revolts
Suicide bombing / kamikaze attacks - worker honeybees dying from their stingers being pulled out as they fly away from their targets
Warfare - ants, chimpanzees