When a large flock of birds take flight suddenly (ex. if they’re startled) how do they know where to go instead of flying off in all directions?
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You see crowds do this too, its a very primal animal response, that crosses species boundaries. Fish stick to the school, birds the flock and mammals the herd. Sticking together makes it very hard for a predator to focus on catching any one animal.
Fleeing from predators as a group is safer than if you break off and run on your own. On nature docs/videos predators will chase a herd but they are waiting for one young/old/sick animal to fall behind or break away from the group.
If a lot of humans start running in one direction, more humans will run that way too. Crowd crushes can happen when groups of people panic and just all run in the same direction.
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