Abstract

The ‘Selfish-herd’ hypothesis suggests that cover-seeking within the flock can reduce individual risk of predation at the expense of their neighbours. Perhaps surprisingly then, I found that in flocking simulations, individuals which try to crowd to the centre paradoxically were more likely to be captured, because they end up at the back of a fleeing herd. My work thus suggests that ‘selfish-herd’ may only play a limited role in the evolution of collective motion. This solo-author work was recently published in Proceeding of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Soon after, another paper came out in Journal of Theoretical Biology, which suggests that “selfish-herd” can explain many of the emergent patterns of collective movement of flocks or shoals. This latter paper thus suggests the opposite to my study: that ‘selfish-herd’ mechanics can favour the evolution of collective motion. I will get in touch with these authors and present the story of our interaction to your audience. I will present our two models – the virtues and pitfalls of each – and a pathway towards their resolution reached through our collaboration. My presentation will be interlaced with footage and data from my first-author empirical work recently published in Current Biology in which ‘selfish-herd’ dynamics were found to be absent in GPS tagged pigeons chased by a robotic peregrine falcon model. These data were the inspiration for my modelling of ‘selfish-herd’ in collective motion in the first place, and makes for a compelling narrative that highlights where the intersection of animals, technology, and modelling can converge for the purpose of testing scientific hypotheses.