Swarm behaviour

Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a <a href="/facts/Collective_animal_behaviour/oBT6SLan">collective behaviour</a> exhibited by entities, particularly animals, of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en masse or <a href="/facts/Animal_migration/bXLzgFDb">migrating</a> in some direction. It is a highly interdisciplinary topic.
As a term, swarming is applied particularly to insects, but can also be applied to any other entity or animal that exhibits swarm behaviour. The term <a href="/facts/Flocking_(behavior)/85glY8w2">flocking</a> or murmuration can refer specifically to swarm behaviour in birds, <a href="/facts/Herd_behaviour/CH8FF4nP">herding</a> to refer to swarm behaviour in <a href="/facts/Tetrapods/vWpAxzAW">tetrapods</a>, and <a href="/facts/Shoaling_and_schooling/vFAw9F75">shoaling or schooling</a> to refer to swarm behaviour in fish. <a href="/facts/Phytoplankton/tK5MUIkA">Phytoplankton</a> also gather in huge swarms called <a href="/facts/Algal_bloom/TTP5g2Ah">blooms</a>, although these organisms are <a href="/facts/Algae/U1ftVKU3">algae</a> and are not self-propelled the way animals are. By extension, the term "swarm" is applied also to inanimate entities which exhibit parallel behaviours, as in a <a href="/facts/Swarm_robotics/HXAtBAd7">robot swarm</a>, an <a href="/facts/Earthquake_swarm/Mp8zb3AD">earthquake swarm</a>, or a swarm of stars.
From a more abstract point of view, swarm behaviour is the collective motion of a large number of <a href="/facts/Self-propelled_particles/FnGhgpYl">self-propelled entities</a>. From the perspective of the mathematical modeller, it is an <a href="/facts/Emergence/zlFRW0oj">emergent</a> behaviour arising from simple rules that are followed by individuals and does not involve any central coordination. Swarm behaviour is also studied by <a href="/facts/Active_matter/jH9Ph4Yq">active matter</a> physicists as a phenomenon which is not in <a href="/facts/Thermodynamic_equilibrium/1D7nGm0d">thermodynamic equilibrium</a>, and as such requires the development of tools beyond those available from the <a href="/facts/Statistical_physics/SnlJE78a">statistical physics</a> of systems in thermodynamic equilibrium. In this regard, swarming has been compared to the mathematics of <a href="/facts/Superfluids/QuePDujN">superfluids</a>, specifically in the context of <a href="/facts/Starling/HlLPFc7N">starling flocks</a> (murmuration).
Swarm behaviour was first simulated on a computer in 1986 with the simulation program <a href="/facts/Boids/9mX9XhsP">boids</a>. This program simulates simple <a href="/facts/Agent-based_model_in_biology/KzRX7YP1">agents</a> (boids) that are allowed to move according to a set of basic rules. The model was originally designed to mimic the flocking behaviour of birds, but it can be applied also to schooling fish and other swarming entities.

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Swarm behaviour