Rattlesnakes sense their prey using pit organs that see in infrared. Some squirrels that interact with the snakes have developed a trick of heating their tail and waving it around as a distraction. Zoologists are fascinated by this behavior, but it is very difficult to observe in nature. It takes a lot of patience and luck. Apparently when the biologists ran out of both, they turned to robots.
Using a taxidermy squirrel, a servomotor, and several independent heating coils, researchers created an artificial squirrel that they could put into harms way with a real rattlesnake and experiment with various heating/tail wagging strategies to see what will work.
It's amazing the things that are created when different disciplines get together.
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