This website is an information resource on collective animal behavior: the study of how interactions between animals produce group level patterns and why these interactions have evolved. Examples of collective animal behaviour are seen all around us: flocks of birds twisting above our heads; ants building nests and foraging trails; a honey bee swarm gathering on a tree and even a pulsating mass of bodies surrounding us on a Saturday night dancefloor.

 

These phenomena have been better understood using a combination of experiment and mathematical modeling. This website provides examples and information on the approach to understanding collective behavior.

 

This website is designed around the book ‘Collective Animal Behaviour’ by David Sumpter. The book will be finished during 2008 and published by Princeton University Press. This website provides draft versions of the chapters which will appear in the book, along with code for the simulation models used in the book and links to relevant papers and webpages.

 

I hope this site will also serve as a resource for anyone interested in collective animal behavior. Comments on the website and on the draft chapters are more than welcome. Suggestions for links to other work and contributed pictures are also very welcome.