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A very crowded colony of king penguins

Colonial

Colonial animals live in large groups in close proximity to one other. Colonies might exist only at specific times of the year such as the nesting season for many seabirds. Others, such as a beehive or a den of meerkats, contain a single social unit,and often last for longer than the lifetime of an individual member.

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Animals with this behaviour

Mammals

Birds

Reptiles

Ray-finned fishes

Insects

Jellyfish

About

In biology, a colony refers to individual organisms of the same species living closely together, usually for mutual benefit, such as stronger defense or the ability to attack bigger prey. Some insects (ants and honey bees, for example) live only in colonies. The Portuguese man o' war is an example of a colony of four different polyp forms.

A colony of single-cell organisms is known as a colonial organism. Colonial organisms were probably the first step toward multicellular organisms via natural selection.[citation needed] The difference between a multicellular organism and a colonial organism is that individual organisms from a colony can, if separated, survive on their own, while cells from a multicellular lifeform (e.g., cells from a brain) cannot. Volvox (technically a coenobium) is an example of the border between these two states.

A bacterial colony is defined as a visible cluster of bacteria growing on the surface of or within a solid medium, presumably cultured from a single cell. Because all organisms within the colony descend from a single ancestor, they are genetically identical (except for mutations that occur at a low, unavoidable frequency, as well as the more likely possibility of contamination). Obtaining such genetically identical organisms (or pure strains) can be useful in many cases; this is done by spreading bacteria on a culture plate and starting a new stock of bacteria from a single colony.

A biofilm is a colony of microorganisms often comprising several species, with properties and capabilities greater than the aggregate of capabilities of the individual organisms.

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Behaviours

Other Social behaviour behaviours

Habitats

Habitats where this adaptation is useful

BBC News about Colonial

  • Gannet colony's population spurt The number of gannets breeding on an island off the Pembrokeshire coast is continuing to increase, a new survey has revealed.

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