Dragonflies on the hunt displays complex choreography

The dragonfly is a swift and efficient hunter. Once it spots its prey, it takes about half a second to swoop beneath an unsuspecting insect and snatch it from the air. Researchers have used motion-capture technology to reveal new insight into the sophisticated information processing and acrobatic skills of dragonflies on the hunt.The markers are used to measure the orientation of the dragonfly’s head and body during flight. The data from the measurements allows the underlying steering strategy to be inferred. This highlights the role that internal models play in letting these creatures constructs such a complex behavior. It starts to reshape our view of the neural underpinnings of this behavior. Until now, this type of complex control, which incorporates both prediction and reaction, had been demonstrated only in vertebrates. Neuroscientists have learned a lot about how the nervous system triggers actions in response to sensory information by studying simple reflexive behaviors, such as how an animal escapes a predator. Leonardo has been studying prey capture in dragonflies because he wants to know whether the same stimulus-response loops that researchers have uncovered in those systems also underlie more complex behaviors.