Sioux Falls Zoologists endorse The Gathering Swarms for showing
us that the collective intelligence behavior of swarms gives
its members a distinct survival advantage.

The Gathering Swarms
Bats, Butterflies, and more

The Gathering Swarms (2014) - 60 minutes
The Gathering Swarms at Amazon.com

A look at some of the planet's great gatherings, creatures that come together in inconceivable numbers- sometimes in millions, billions, and even trillions. Included are bats and bees, locust and ants, monarch butterflies in Mexico, 17-year cicada hatches, grunion in the Sea of Cortez and carp in the Mississippi River, sardine runs off the coast of South Africa, super flocks of parakeets in the Australian Outback, mayflies on the 4th of July, and even penguins and wildebeest. Some gather to breed or to migrate, some for protection, some simply to keep warm in the cold. But in the process, a kind of super-organism is created in which individual intelligence is superseded by a collective consciousness that shares information and moves with a single purpose for the benefit of all. Check out swarm intelligence, essentially a living embodiment of social media in the natural world.

1-12-16 Starlings form spectacular 'dancing clouds' over Israel.
Starlings form spectacular 'dancing clouds' over Israel.
Starlings from Russia and eastern Europe have created a spectacular show in the Middle Eastern sunset. They group together to help find food and fend off foes. These murmurations, as they are known, make it difficult for a bird of prey to target a single bird.

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The Gathering Swarms
Bats, Butterflies, and more

Sioux Falls Zoologists endorse The Gathering Swarms for showing
us that the collective intelligence behavior of swarms gives
its members a distinct survival advantage.