Posted on 04/12/2012 1:32:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In a flash of fangs, the rattlesnake lunged, striking in less than a second. Its prey: a mechanical, remote-controlled squirrel, now with a pool venom in its head. "That was really exciting," said ecology doctoral student Bree Putman. "The snake saw it as real prey."
On a high-tech reserve in the rolling, pastoral hills east of San Jose, Putman and her adviser, San Diego State ecologist Rulon Clark, are using robosquirrel to understand the relationship between the predator and prey, which it turns out is "complicated." That's where robosquirrel comes in. Clark and Putman said that decoding their conversations, one robotic move at a time, could help explain how populations of the pesky critters naturally balance out.
A tense conversation: Unlike robosquirrel's debut last year, real squirrels don't normally get bitten; they just make a fuss. When Californian ground squirrels notice a snake, they usually pop their tails straight up and wave them like flags, staying nose-to-nose with the reptile. "Why don't they just stay away from it?" Putman asked. Clark and Putman, a joint graduate student at San Diego State and UC Davis, are starting the second round of research next month in San Jose to find out why squirrels interact that way with snakes.
Rattlesnakes, a type of pit viper, can "see" in infrared -- including heat -- and squirrels heat up their tails while flagging.
"Maybe it's a way to confuse or misdirect the snake," Clark said. "If it tries to target the squirrel for a strike, it doesn't know what to aim for."
But it also could just be blowing the snake's cover. Because snakes rely on surprise, Putman explained, flagging could just be telling the snake, "I know where you are, and you're not going to be successful."
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Something like the white hut fooling the American People...but which one is the snake? We Know!!
Clark is currently conducting this research alongside colleagues from UC Davis. You can bet there's a colossal waste of State and Federal funds being wasted on this project.
Just because a rattlesnake went for it doesn’t mean it thought it was food. Rattlesnakes are very territorial and just generally have an attitude. I know a few roadside attractions that let you drop inflated balloons at them.
Did they name the robosquirrel, “Hammy”?
Mr. Rattlesnake! It’s me, Mr. Squirrel. Just a harmless squirrel. Not a plastic explosive or anything. Nothing to be worried about.
/Caddyshack
You beat me to the punch; I wonder how much the “scientists” spent on developing the robosquirrel when all they had to do was visit a movie prop warehouse.
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQaoIY6EAToxbMuIgi263AytPWavEHqOXTxr9jbhPG_x0BfCWLShg
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