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Concept
Flocking
Summary
Flocking is the behavior exhibited when a group of birds, called a flock, are foraging or in flight.
Computer simulations and mathematical models that have been developed to emulate the flocking behaviours of birds can also generally be applied to the "flocking" behaviour of other species. As a result, the term "flocking" is sometimes applied, in computer science, to species other than birds, to mean collective motion by a group of self-propelled entities, a collective animal behaviour exhibited by many living beings such as fish, bacteria, and insects.
Flocking is considered an emergent behaviour arising from simple rules that are followed by individuals and does not involve any central coordination.
There are parallels with the shoaling behaviour of fish, the swarming behaviour of insects, and herd behaviour of land animals. During the winter months, starlings are known for aggregating into huge flocks of hundreds to thousands of individuals, murmurations, which when they take flight altogether, render large displays of intriguing swirling patterns in the skies above observers.
Flocking behaviour was simulated on a computer in 1987 by Craig Reynolds with his simulation program, Boids. This program simulates simple agents (boids) that are allowed to move according to a set of basic rules. The result is akin to a flock of birds, a school of fish, or a swarm of insects.
Measurements of bird flocking have been made using high-speed cameras, and a computer analysis has been made to test the simple rules of flocking mentioned below. It is found that they generally hold true in the case of bird flocking, but the long range attraction rule (cohesion) applies to the nearest 5–10 neighbors of the flocking bird and is independent of the distance of these neighbors from the bird. In addition, there is an anisotropy with regard to this cohesive tendency, with more cohesion being exhibited towards neighbors to the sides of the bird, rather than in front or behind.
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