Scientists use robot dinosaur in effort to explain origins of birds’ plumage

Model used by researchers in South Korea suggests early feathers may have helped creatures such as Caudipteryx to flush out prey

The problem with being an expert on dinosaur behaviour is that little can be inferred from the fossilised bones of beasts that died millions of years ago.

For researchers in South Korea, however, the absence of any living creatures to observe was merely another challenge to overcome. Enter Robopteryx, a robot that resembles - if one squints and ignores the wheels - the prehistoric, peacock-sized and fan-tailed omnivore, Caudipteryx.