[rcooled]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

The idea that swarms can move as one is amazing...a collective.

I'm always fascinated by swarms of birds flying around in unison while tuned into what seems like a 'collective consciousness’. Schools of fish do the same thing...seeming to all change direction at the exact same instant, rather than doing a 'follow-the-leader' type thing.
I remember reading somewhere that, in the case of birds and fish, each member of the swarm/school maintains a more-or-less equal distance to each of it's immediate neighbors in the group, and moves along at the same speed too. Their super-fast reactions to a change in direction make it seem like they're all moving as a single entity. There's no ‘leader’ as such...if any one individual arbitrarily changes direction, everyone else follows.