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Feathered Dinosaurs Used Proto-Wings to Flush Out Prey, New Study Suggests

Researchers built a robot dinosaur to test the 'flush-pursue hypothesis', revealing that prey was more likely to flee when feathers were present on forelimbs and tails.

A robot designed to look like the Jurassic-era Caudipteryx was used by researchers to see how dinosaurs may have used feathers to flush out prey.
Image
Robopteryx, a robotic version of a dinosaur called Caudipteryx, performs a "flush-pursuit foraging" display to try to spook a grasshopper (arrow), which may have been a common hunting technique
Gif of grasshopper fleeing robotic dinosaur that is flapping wings

Overview

  • Dinosaurs might have used feathers on their forelimbs and tails to flush out and pursue their prey, according to a new study.
  • A team of scientists built a robot, named 'Robopteryx', that resembles the morphology of Caudipteryx, a small feathered dinosaur, to test the 'flush-pursue hypothesis'.
  • The 'flush-pursue hypothesis' suggests that small dinosaurs with proto-wings used a similar strategy to some birds, using wings and tail displays to visually flush out hiding prey and then pursue the flushed prey.
  • Experiments with 'Robopteryx' showed that grasshoppers, which likely co-existed with pennaraptoran dinosaurs, escaped more frequently when proto-wings were present on the forelimbs, especially when they had white patches, and when tail feathers were present, particularly when the area of tail feathers was large.
  • The researchers propose that using plumage to flush prey could have led to the development of larger and stiffer feathers, as these would enable more successful pursuits and more pronounced visual flush-displays.