Small omnivorous and insectivorous dinosaurs had underdeveloped feathered wings to scare off prey. This was demonstrated by an experiment with a robotic dinosaur model and live grasshoppers. The results were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
To date, they are the only group of dinosaurs known to have the contour feathers necessary for flight. Pennaraptora. Its fossilized remains contain primitive wings. The functions of these limbs are unknown, but scientists are sure that they did not allow dinosaurs to fly. According to one hypothesis, they helped animals hunt by frightening the prey hiding in the shelter. This was facilitated by the bright contrasting color of the feathers. Similar hunting tactics are used by living bird species that, according to modern classification, belong to dinosaurs. These include the California ground cuckoo and the polyphonic mockingbird.
To test the hypothesis, scientists created Robopteryx, a model of the bipedal dinosaur Caudipteryx (caudipteryx). It was the size of a peacock and lived about 124 million years ago. Scientists tested various types of predation fear on grasshoppers because close relatives of grasshoppers already existed at the time of Caudipteryx.
They found that when Robopteryx used its wings, locusts escaped hiding 93% of the time, and 47% of the time when it used only its tail. In addition, white spots on the wings and feathers on the tail also contributed significantly to the success of the hunt.
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