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Sociality: The Behaviour of Group-Living Animals pp 1–8Cite as

Sociality

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Abstract

Herds, flocks and shoals provide some of the most visually dramatic phenomena in the natural world. The sight of a mass of individuals turning and twisting in unison is fascinating and often hypnotic. The spectacle often provokes questions such as ‘how do the animals act as though they were perfectly choreographed?’ or ‘why do they form into these groups?’ Moreover, the tendency of animals to structure their interactions and to integrate into societies is a facet of their behaviour which inspires comparison with ourselves. Researching these and related questions has been a central goal of students of animal behaviour even before such luminaries as Niko Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz codified and defined the scientific approach to animal behaviour.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Ashley Ward

  2. School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, UK

    Mike Webster

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  1. Ashley Ward
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Ward, A., Webster, M. (2016). Sociality. In: Sociality: The Behaviour of Group-Living Animals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28585-6_1

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