Acrobatic squirrels learn to leap and land on tree branches without falling
Abstract
Every day, there are acrobatic extravaganzas going on above our heads. Squirrels navigate remarkably complex and unpredictable environments as they leap from branch to branch, and mistakes can be fatal. These feats require a complex combination of evolved biomechanical adaptations and learned behaviors. Hunt et al . characterized the integration of these features in a series of experiments with free-living fox squirrels (see the Perspective by Adolph and Young). They found that the squirrels’ remarkable and consistent success was due to a combination of learned impulse generation when assessing the balance between distance and branch flexibility and the addition of innovative leaps and landings in the face of increasingly difficult challenges. —SNV
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Aug 06, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1126/science.abe5753
Entities
People
- Judy Jinn
- Lucia F Jacobs
- Nathaniel H. Hunt
- Robert J Full
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- National Institutes of Health
- National Science Foundation
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Nebraska Omaha