Robotic animals? Truth is stranger than fiction.

The idea sounds reasonable, but the headline is just hilarious. Scientists are using robotic animal replicas in attempts to better understand and study animals. Using these robotic animals they can inflect actions and interactions to other animals in their natural environment and receive more natural responses. It's hard to understand how an animal naturally reacts when it's in a cage.

One gray squirrel, its bushy tail twitching, barked a warning as another scrounged for food nearby.

It was an ordinary spring day at Hampshire College, except that the rodent issuing the warning was powered by amps, not acorns.

Sarah Partan, an assistant professor in animal behavior at Hampshire, hopes that by capturing a close-up view of squirrels in nature, Rocky will help her team decode squirrels' communication techniques, social cues and survival instincts.
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