The darkling beetle's head-down body position harvests fog in the dry, arid desert with hydrophilic bumps and hydrophobic surfaces on its back.
The two water sources that generally exist in the aridest deserts are fog. The darkling beetle collects moisture from the air (fog) by holding its body head down. Water droplets collect on hydrophilic bumps diverted from the hydrophobic valleys on its back, rolling down to its mouth. This strategy could be used in human design to collect water for communities where water is scarce or improve the ecosystem services for new building developments.
