Wildlife
Swarming happens when animals gather or travel together in large numbers. Its most familiar examples are in insects, such as locusts and midges, flocking birds and shoaling fish. Some animals swarm as a defence against predation, others, such as locusts and bees, only form swarms in specific circumstances. Swarming can be carried out by the smallest and simplest micro-organisms, such as bacteria, and even by humans.
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Swirling starlings
Nights on the town are numbered for Brighton's West Pier starlings.
Nights on the town are numbered for Brighton's West Pier starlings.
Barracuda swarm
Thousands of lethally toothed fish cause a temporary eclipse!
In the reefs around Mabul Island, chevron barracuda are well known for shoaling in great numbers and being approachable for divers, but wildlife film-makers are always sceptical of such information. As the director and support diver swam behind Steve and cameraman Simon, and watched them hare off into the darkening patch of water, he was mystified as to why they would rush off into what looked like a storm front. Then he realised that the darkening was caused by the massive school of fish, and that the cameraman had positioned himself right in the sweet spot, below the school, and with Steve above him in its midst to get these fantastic shots.
Spectacular geese
Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan witness an early morning spectacle of geese.
Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan witness an early morning spectacle of geese.
Fish - Shoal to School Dive
Paul dives with a shoal of fish that soon transform into a school when he starts to behave as if he were a predator.
Paul dives with a shoal of fish that soon transform into a school when he starts to behave as if he were a predator.
A starling's history of Britain
Woodland clearances created the ideal environment for a starling boom.
Woodland clearances created the ideal environment for a starling boom.
Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by animals of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en masse or migrating in some direction. As a term, swarming is applied particularly to insects, but can also be applied to any other animal that exhibits swarm behaviour. The term flocking is usually used to refer specifically to swarm behaviour in birds, herding to refer to swarm behaviour in quadrupeds, shoaling or schooling to refer to swarm behaviour in fish. Phytoplankton also gather in huge swarms called blooms, although these organisms are algae and are not self propelled the way animals are. By extension, the term swarm is applied also to inanimate entities which exhibit parallel behaviours, as in a robot swarm, an earthquake swarm, or a swarm of stars.
From a more abstract point of view, swarm behaviour is the collective motion of a large number of self-propelled entities. From the perspective of the mathematical modeller, it is an emergent behaviour arising from simple rules that are followed by individuals and does not involve any central coordination.
Swarm behaviour was first simulated on a computer in 1986 with the simulation program boids. This program simulates simple agents (boids) that are allowed to move according to a set of basic rules. The model was originally designed to mimic the flocking behaviour of birds, but it can be applied also to schooling fish and other swarming entities.
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Burrowing parrot
Northern gannet
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Red-billed quelea
Rook
Siskin
Starling
Knot
Red-bellied piranha
Three-spined stickleback
Atlantic salmon
Peruvian anchoveta
Army ant
European honey bee
Monarch butterfly
Highland midge
Desert locust
Mayflies
Tisza mayfly