astralavista

Scientists at Princeton University's Department of Ecology and Environmental Biology say they've figured out how large groups of animals coordinate their movement and behavior. They say that large groups easily make accurate decisions about where to go even when no individuals are regarded as leaders and very few individuals have any pertinent information."It demonstrates the power of the little guy," said Daniel Rubenstein, chair of ecology and evolutionary biology at the university. "You don't need avowed leaders, you don't need complex signaling."
The researchers assumed that group coordination stems from two fundamental instincts: the need to stay in group and the desire by some members to act on their own information about where to go. Using computer modeling, the team endowed their simulated animals with the basic "urge" to stay close other members of the group without running into them. As predicted, this bunched the animals into close, evenly spaced groups "like those of real animals, which pay a high price - such as being eaten - if they stray from their group."
In the next step, some members of the herd were given a drive, such as knowing where to find food. The software then told this enlightened bunch to balance their urge to find food with their desire to stay in the group. Yet, in repeated simulations, the entire group ended up with full stomachs. What more, the same small number of informed animals, as little as 10 members in a group of 200, was equally effective in leading small and large groups.