Dragonflies maneuver like fighter pilots

蜻蜓的飞行机动如同战斗机飞行员

Male dragonflies are known to engage in mid-air “dogfights” to defend their breeding territory, using different maneuvers than those they employ when hunting prey. A new paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface concluded that relatively simple rules drive that behavior, namely that male dragonflies are trying to maintain a tactical position. This mirrors the tactics of human fighter pilots. The research could lead to the development of smarter drones capable of navigating with simple, vision-based guidance rather than complex computation.

雄性蜻蜓为了保卫繁殖领地，常会在空中进行“缠斗”，其所采用的飞行机动与捕食时截然不同。发表在《英国皇家学会界面杂志》（Journal of the Royal Society Interface）上的一篇新论文指出，这种行为是由相对简单的规则驱动的，即雄性蜻蜓试图保持某种战术位置。这与人类战斗机飞行员的战术如出一辙。这项研究可能有助于开发出更智能的无人机，使其能够通过简单的视觉引导而非复杂的计算进行导航。

Classic pursuits involving prey or mating rituals are asymmetric: there is a chaser and an evader, with each role requiring different maneuvers. In the case of male-on-male interactions, however, it is more of a mutual pursuit, per the authors, who thought that studying flight trajectories of insects or raptors could yield useful insights into the guidance laws that underlie the behavior. They chose the Trithemis Aurora species of dragonfly for study because the males are “fiercely territorial,” and there are usually multiple males around a given pond, intent on defending their chosen perches. The dragonflies are also crimson-colored, making them easier to track.

涉及猎物或求偶仪式的经典追逐通常是不对称的：一方是追逐者，另一方是逃避者，每个角色都需要不同的机动动作。然而，作者认为，雄性之间的互动更像是一种相互追逐。他们认为，研究昆虫或猛禽的飞行轨迹可以为行为背后的引导规律提供有益的见解。他们选择了晓褐蜻（Trithemis Aurora）作为研究对象，因为这种蜻蜓的雄性“领地意识极强”，且在特定的池塘周围通常有多只雄性，它们一心想要保卫自己选定的栖息地。此外，这种蜻蜓呈深红色，更容易被追踪。

Much of the prior research on dragonfly interactions relied on visual observations or single-camera recordings. For this study, the authors set up a portable stereovideographic rig with two shutter-synchronized cameras to record dragonfly interactions in both color and monochrome, and then reconstructed 102 paired male-on-male flight trajectories to capture the 3D kinematics. They also reconstructed nine trajectories for dragonflies intercepting prey for comparative purposes. This enabled the authors to develop a model for the rules governing the flight behavior.

此前关于蜻蜓互动的大部分研究都依赖于视觉观察或单摄像机记录。在本项研究中，作者搭建了一套便携式立体视频装置，利用两台快门同步的摄像机以彩色和单色记录蜻蜓的互动，随后重建了 102 条雄性间的配对飞行轨迹，以捕捉其 3D 运动学特征。为了进行对比，他们还重建了 9 条蜻蜓拦截猎物的轨迹。这使得作者能够建立一套控制其飞行行为的规则模型。

Chasing the tail

尾随追逐

The resulting analysis confirmed marked differences in flight behavior when dragonflies were hunting prey versus defending their territory from other male dragonflies via “dogfight” displays. When hunting, the dragonflies approached their prey from below, so prey was often viewed silhouetted against the sky. Dogfighting males showed more highly convoluted trajectories and were more likely to be viewed against a background of foliage or the ground.

分析结果证实，蜻蜓在捕食与通过“缠斗”展示来保卫领地时，其飞行行为存在显著差异。捕食时，蜻蜓会从下方接近猎物，因此猎物通常是以天空为背景的剪影。而缠斗中的雄性蜻蜓则表现出更为复杂的飞行轨迹，且更有可能以植被或地面为背景被观察到。

In fact, the researchers found that the male dragonflies’ aerial combat behavior closely resembled that of human fighter pilots, with the two insects competing to achieve an advantageous position behind their opponent (chasing the tail). Furthermore, a pilot will use high-G maneuvers like downward vertical turns and spirals, and those maneuvers are strikingly similar to dragonflies engaged in aerial combat. The authors suspect this similar behavior might be because fighter jets deploy forward-facing weapon-radar systems and dragonflies have a frontally biased vision system ideal for detecting targets in front of them.

事实上，研究人员发现，雄性蜻蜓的空战行为与人类战斗机飞行员非常相似，两只昆虫都在竞争以获得对手后方的有利位置（即“尾随”）。此外，飞行员会使用向下垂直转弯和螺旋飞行等高 G 力机动，这些动作与进行空战的蜻蜓惊人地相似。作者推测，这种相似的行为可能是因为战斗机部署了前向武器雷达系统，而蜻蜓拥有偏向正面的视觉系统，非常适合探测前方的目标。

In other words, it’s not just a chase; it’s a duel, with dragonflies competing for positional advantage rather than trying to intercept, as they would do when hunting prey. That objective naturally leads the insects to rely on loops and spiral flight patterns, repeatedly switching their “chaser” and “evader” roles. Among other findings: The dragonflies can pull turns up to 6 Gs but usually avoid ramping up to top speeds in exchange for better maneuverability. And the dragonflies glide at least one-third of the time even during the most intense dogfights—possibly to conserve energy, or perhaps because it’s easier for them to visually track a target while gliding. They rely on flapping to execute sharp turns.

换句话说，这不仅仅是追逐，而是一场决斗。蜻蜓是在争夺位置优势，而不是像捕食时那样试图拦截猎物。这一目标自然促使昆虫依赖环形和螺旋飞行模式，并反复切换“追逐者”和“逃避者”的角色。其他发现还包括：蜻蜓在转弯时可承受高达 6 G 的过载，但通常会避免达到最高速度，以换取更好的机动性。即使在最激烈的缠斗中，蜻蜓至少有三分之一的时间在滑翔——这可能是为了节省能量，也可能是因为滑翔时更容易在视觉上追踪目标。它们依靠拍打翅膀来执行急转弯。

There is at least one significant difference between dragonflies and fighter pilot flight maneuvers. “Fighter pilots treat altitude as a reserve of potential energy that can be traded for airspeed during combat through diving maneuvers,” the authors write. “For an equivalent speed, the pilot would rather be higher in altitude than their opponent. Dragonflies do not appear to use altitude in this way, instead preferring to position themselves slightly below the opponent, without an energy advantage but with a potential visual tracking advantage.”

蜻蜓与战斗机飞行员的飞行机动之间至少存在一个显著差异。作者写道：“战斗机飞行员将高度视为一种势能储备，在战斗中可以通过俯冲机动将其转化为飞行速度。在速度相当的情况下，飞行员宁愿处于比对手更高的高度。而蜻蜓似乎并不以这种方式利用高度，它们更倾向于将自己定位在对手的略下方，虽然没有能量优势，但却拥有潜在的视觉追踪优势。”