Route-dependent switch between hierarchical and egalitarian strategies in pigeon flocks.

ABSTRACT: The mechanisms that underlie fascinating inter-individual interactions among animal groups have attracted increasing attention from biologists, physicists, and system scientists. There are two well-known types of interaction patterns: hierarchical and egalitarian. In the former type, individuals follow their leaders, whereas they follow their neighbors in the latter. Using high-resolution spatiotemporal data derived from the free flights of a flock of pigeons, we show that pigeon flocks actually adopt a mode that switches between the two aforementioned strategies. To determine its flight direction, each pigeon tends to follow the average of its neighbors while moving along a smooth trajectory, whereas it switches to follow its leaders when sudden turns or zigzags occur. By contrast, when d

SUBMITTER: Zhang HT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4108945 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature