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Birds, like fish, form flocks or shoals to minimise being picked off by predators. To do this, they maintain close proximity eye contact with three or four of their nearest neighbours. As one or two birds start to turn, the individual will tend to stay closest to those animals that are making the same decision, thus maintaining the flock/shoal. There will be some animals that are slower on the uptake, or decide to follow another group and consequently there will be swoops and divergences within the flock/shoal. The sum total is a confusing mass moving in unison this way and that, making it difficult for the predator to pick off an individual.

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13y ago

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