Accumulated experience of preying on escaping bait enhances pursuit performance in mice

As a highly sequentially programmed behavior driven by innate desire, one of the most challenging parts of preying is how the hunter can pursue and capture an escaping prey that is also running for its own survival. Although presumed, it remains uncertain how the experience of competing with escaping prey can enhance preying performance. Here, we developed an interactive platform to study the preying behavior in mice using an escaping bait. This robotic bait was magnetically controlled by a closed-loop system that continuously attempted to evade an approaching threat (e.g., a hungry mouse). By recording the time costs, trajectories and other parameters of both mouse and the escaping bait, we found that mice were not only able to perform preying tasks of varying difficulties, but also that they could improve their preying efficiency over trials, mainly due to the improvements in the pursuit phase. Further investigation revealed that the enhancement in pursuit performance primarily resulted from changes in pursuit strategy and the optimization of velocity control. In conclusion, this study reveals that experienced mice can optimize their pursuit strategies to improve their preying efficiency, and the transition from novice to veteran can be used to study the biological mechanisms of behavioral flexibility in mice.