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Neuroscience

Dragonflies predict and plan their hunts

Nature volume 517, pages 279–280 (2015)Cite this article

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An analysis reveals that the dragonfly's impressive ability to catch its prey arises from internal calculations about its own movements and those of its target — the first example of such predictions in invertebrates. See Article p.333

Imagine a ballet dancer moving across the stage to meet his partner, who is leaping and pirouetting towards him. To catch her at the right moment, he must predict where she will end up and determine how he should move to intercept her. To do this, his mind anticipates how her image should grow as they move towards each other, allowing him to rapidly identify and react to unexpected changes, such as a stumble that lowers her speed. Until now, this type of complex control, which incorporates both prediction and reaction, had been demonstrated only in vertebrates. However, in this issue, Mischiati et al.1 (page 333) show that dragonflies on the hunt perform internal calculations every bit as complex as those of a ballet dancer.

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Figure 1: A dragonfly in flight.

Phil Degginge/Alamy

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stacey A. Combes is in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Concord Field Station, Harvard University, Bedford, Massachusetts 01730, USA.,

    Stacey A. Combes

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  1. Stacey A. Combes
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Correspondence to Stacey A. Combes.

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Combes, S. Dragonflies predict and plan their hunts. Nature 517, 279–280 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14078

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