Flies evade looming targets by executing rapid visually directed banked turns.

摘要: Avoiding predators is an essential behavior in which animals must quickly transform sensory cues into evasive actions. Sensory reflexes are particularly fast flying insects such as flies, but the means by they evade aerial not known. Using high-speed videography and automated tracking of flies combination with aerodynamic measurements on flapping robots, we show that react to looming stimuli directed banked turns. The maneuver consists a rapid body rotation followed immediately active counter-rotation enacted remarkably subtle changes wing motion. These maneuvers substantially faster than steering measured previously indicate existence sensory-motor circuitry can reorient fly's flight path within few wingbeats.