RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Hawks pursuing targets through clutter avoid obstacles by applying open loop steering corrections during closed loop pursuit
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2023.01.23.525170
DO 10.1101/2023.01.23.525170
A1 Caroline H. Brighton
A1 James A. Kempton
A1 Lydia A. France
A1 Marco KleinHeerenbrink
A1 Sofía Miñano
A1 Graham K. Taylor
YR 2023
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/01/23/2023.01.23.525170.abstract
AB Pursuing prey through clutter is a complex and risky activity requiring integration of guidance subsystems for obstacle avoidance and target pursuit. The unobstructed pursuit trajectories of Harris’ hawks Parabuteo unicinctus are well modelled by a mixed guidance law feeding back target deviation angle and line-of-sight rate. Here we ask how their closed-loop pursuit behavior is modified in response to obstacles, using high-speed motion capture to reconstruct flight trajectories recorded during obstructed pursuit of maneuvering targets. We find that their trajectories are well modelled by the same mixed guidance law identified previously, which produces a tail-chasing behavior that promotes implicit obstacle avoidance when led by a target that is itself avoiding clutter. When presented with obstacles blocking their path, hawks resolve the pursuit-avoidance conflict by applying a bias command that is well modelled as an open-loop steering correction aiming at a clearance of one wing length from an upcoming obstacle.Teaser Raptors resolve the conflict between obstacle avoidance and prey pursuit by applying intermittent bias commands to steer flight.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.