Birds of a feather...do WHAT exactly?
October 5, 2010 10:39 AM Subscribe
Is there a specific term to describe the coordinated movement of a collective group of animals?
When I was a kid, I swore I came across a term that meant this very thing -- describing, for instance, the seemingly-spontaneous but amazingly-coordinated movements of a school of fish, or a flock of birds suddenly springing into coordinated flight, then diving and banking abruptly, but together.
I thought it was an amazing word and wanted to save it, but it's been lost to memory for years now.
Does it exist? What is it?
When I was a kid, I swore I came across a term that meant this very thing -- describing, for instance, the seemingly-spontaneous but amazingly-coordinated movements of a school of fish, or a flock of birds suddenly springing into coordinated flight, then diving and banking abruptly, but together.
I thought it was an amazing word and wanted to save it, but it's been lost to memory for years now.
Does it exist? What is it?
Response by poster: I know the definition fits, but I'm almost positive it was another term.
I've tried the dictionary and thesaurus before, and haven't found the one that I'm looking for. This leads me to believe it may be a pretty technical or specialized term.
posted by Ouisch at 10:47 AM on October 5, 2010
I've tried the dictionary and thesaurus before, and haven't found the one that I'm looking for. This leads me to believe it may be a pretty technical or specialized term.
posted by Ouisch at 10:47 AM on October 5, 2010
Response by poster: (Sorry that was referring to "flocking." Emergence seems like a distinct possibility!)
posted by Ouisch at 10:47 AM on October 5, 2010
posted by Ouisch at 10:47 AM on October 5, 2010
I was just at the aquarium on the weekend, and they had an exhibit all about how groups of fish know not to run into each other, with videos of birds, marching bands, crowds in a subway station, etc. The whole exhibit was called "Schooling Behaviors". I'm pretty sure that's not the word you were looking for, though - it's not very flashy.
posted by aimedwander at 10:51 AM on October 5, 2010
posted by aimedwander at 10:51 AM on October 5, 2010
Response by poster: Maybe I was just more easily impressed with words as a kid, but pretty sure it wasn't something as common as flocking, schooling, or swarming.
posted by Ouisch at 10:53 AM on October 5, 2010
posted by Ouisch at 10:53 AM on October 5, 2010
I'd go with emergent behavior. Here is a front page post I made about modeling this kind of behavior.
posted by OmieWise at 11:01 AM on October 5, 2010
posted by OmieWise at 11:01 AM on October 5, 2010
For birds, I've always heard flocking, for fish, schooling. In land animals, like bison or antelope, I've heard it described as flocking, by analogy to bird behaviour. Swarming (like in frog migrations or insects) generally seems to describe un-coordinated behaviours.
posted by bonehead at 11:05 AM on October 5, 2010
posted by bonehead at 11:05 AM on October 5, 2010
I would use "herd behavior" for animals like bison.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:21 AM on October 5, 2010
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:21 AM on October 5, 2010
I agree that "flocking" is the term I've always heard. But along the lines of dfriedman's "herd mentality," I think "hive mind" could be appropriate here (and less human-oriented).
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 11:21 AM on October 5, 2010
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 11:21 AM on October 5, 2010
'Flocking' or 'schooling'.
'Emergent behavior' can refer to a lot of other phenomena as well as this.
posted by signal at 11:39 AM on October 5, 2010
'Emergent behavior' can refer to a lot of other phenomena as well as this.
posted by signal at 11:39 AM on October 5, 2010
Emergent is too general. Nesting strategies or protective colouration can be emergent behaviours too, for example.
Wikipaedia calls it Collective behaviour and offers several more examples (shoaling for fish as well as schooling, podding for dolphins, etc...). It also says that "swarming" is the work for collective insect behaviours, and it's hard to argue that bees don't swarm.
So there's your term, I think: collective behaviour.
posted by bonehead at 11:47 AM on October 5, 2010
Wikipaedia calls it Collective behaviour and offers several more examples (shoaling for fish as well as schooling, podding for dolphins, etc...). It also says that "swarming" is the work for collective insect behaviours, and it's hard to argue that bees don't swarm.
So there's your term, I think: collective behaviour.
posted by bonehead at 11:47 AM on October 5, 2010
Not exactly but were you thinking of zugunruhe?
posted by The otter lady at 2:28 PM on October 5, 2010
posted by The otter lady at 2:28 PM on October 5, 2010
It's a murmuration when starlings do it. There's interesting work being done by a project called Starflag on the starlings of Rome, but with much wider implications.
posted by sianifach at 2:36 PM on October 5, 2010
posted by sianifach at 2:36 PM on October 5, 2010
Is "Boids" the term that you're looking for?
If not, then, maybe it will help you go in the right direction.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 6:11 PM on October 5, 2010
If not, then, maybe it will help you go in the right direction.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 6:11 PM on October 5, 2010
More Boids stuff. See, it's like a New Yahka pointin' out all the flyin' "boids".
posted by coolxcool=rad at 6:15 PM on October 5, 2010
posted by coolxcool=rad at 6:15 PM on October 5, 2010
Another term seems to be "swarm intelligence".
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:58 PM on October 5, 2010
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:58 PM on October 5, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Mars Saxman at 10:43 AM on October 5, 2010