I have heard that crows are very smart. How do the other birds know how to follow each other? Birds never seem to be alone. It’s always a crow that comes first when I put bread out.
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A lot of it doesn’t require any communication. Every individual just behaves in a way that results in them forming shoals, swarms, flights etc.
Let’s say you’re a group animal. A sparrow, a tuna, a zebra. You can’t see the entire group from your perspective but you can see the animals nearest to you.
That means that the safest place for you to be is in the centre of your local group.
You also have places to be. If it’s early in the morning, you might be heading to a familiar feeding ground. If it’s late at night you might be heading for your nesting spot.
Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, you want to stay near that centre of your local group. So if some of the other animals know where they’re going, for example because they spotted a food source, the rest of the group will likely stick near these movers.
And of course, you want to avoid certain things like obstacles, environmental dangers and predators.
That’s why groups of animals are always kind of swarming, going this way and that instead of beelining for a goal. Flocks of birds through the sky, shoals of fish through the water. None of them are really communicating with each other. They’re all behaving according to individual behaviour that compels them to stick together while also moving towards things that interest them like food or shelter.
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