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Nature 434, 954-955 (21 April 2005) | doi:10.1038/434954a; Published online 20 April 2005
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Animal behaviour: When robots go wild
Jonathan Knight1
- Jonathan Knight writes for Nature from San Francisco.
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Abstract
A steady stream of mechanical animals is marching out of the lab into the field. Jonathan Knight tunes in to see how these motorized models can expose what makes real creatures behave the way they do.
As the sage grouse gather on the Wyoming prairie to find mates this spring, a few of the strutting, posturing males are in for a surprise. One of the hens they'll be trying to court will be a mechanized impostor rolling around on tracks from a model railroad.
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