SfC Home > Behavior >

Explanation of how flocks of birds and schools of fish exhibit group behavior. Also refer to computer simulation, behavioral rules, psychology, Ron Kurtus, School for Champions. Copyright © Restrictions

Group Behavior of Flocks of Animals

by Ron Kurtus (24 November 2000)

When you observe a flock of birds in flight, you can see they exhibit a certain group-behavior. The same can be said of a school of fish. This flocking behavior is actually the summation of several smaller behaviors. The rules for these behaviors seem fairly simple, such that the total group behavior can be demonstrated in a computer simulation.

Questions you may have are:

• What are the individual rules of behavior?
• What are the group rules of behavior?
• What is the computer simulation of this?

This lesson will answer those questions. There is a mini-quiz near the end of the lesson.

Individual behavioral rules

Through observation or general logic, you can establish some rules of behavior for an individual bird in flight or a fish. An individual bird will probably follow these rules:

• Motion is generally random
• If a bird sees one of its own kind, it will get near that bird
• If a bird gets close to an inanimate object or other similar bird, then it will move away
• If a bird gets close enough to a different type of bird, it will attack it
• If a bird is attacked by more than one bird, it will run away

Since there is the possibility of getting close to other birds, these rules lead into a group behavior.

Group behavioral rules

Applying the above rules to a group of similar birds (or fish), you can get e behavior for the whole group. One additional rule could be added to the group:

• The bird will match velocity with neighboring birds
• The bird will move toward center of group of neighboring birds

Simulation of behavior

These simple rules open the door to a simulation of the behavior of the group. This simulation can be seen in Simulation of Flocking Behavior. (Note that this is a Java application. You must have Java allowed in your browser to see it.)

Summary

By observing birds in flight, you can assume some rules for individual birds and for a flock of birds. The same holds true for a school of fish. There is a computer simulation of this behavior.

Answers to Readers' Questions

Help others learn and you help yourself.

Resources

The following are resources on this subject.

Websites

Behavior Resources

Books

Top-rated books on Group Behavior

Miscellaneous

Mini-quiz to check your understanding

1. How do you know that birds will tend to get close to its own kind?

2. Why would a bird who was attacked by others not try to fight them?

3. How could you draw the conclusion that birds match the velocity of other birds?

If you got all three correct, you are on your way to becoming a Champion in Understanding Behavior. If you had problems, you had better look over the material again.

What do you think?

Do you have any questions, comments, or opinions on this subject? If so, send an email with your feedback. We will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Share link

Feel free to establish a link from your website to pages in this site.

Or use our form to send this link to yourself or a friend.

Students and researchers

The Web address of this page is
www.school-for-champions.com/behavior/flocks.htm.

Please include it as a reference in your report, document, or thesis.

Where can you go from here?

School for Champions

Behavior topics

Group Behavior of Flocks and Schools
Simulation of Flocking Behavior