[Cloud9]

The lone wolf thing may not be all it is cracked up to be.

"In repeated experiments, we found that within two days, 50 percent to 60 percent of the insects transplanted out of the band were dead because something ate them," said Patrick Lorch of the University of North Carolina. "On the other hand, we found no deaths during the same period among the crickets we monitored that stayed with the band."

http://www.livescience.com/animals/0502 ... sects.html

[Maddog78]

Did the ones they put out on their own have Glocks?

[Cloud9]

The thing that struck me about this study was the attrition rate of 50 to 60% in such a short time. This lends credence to the idea that loners fleeing a given catastrophe into a hostile environment will have a high rate of die off. Those that successfully escaped the original catastrophe appear to have a better than even chance of dying within a few days of their escape.

[timmac]

The thing that struck me about this study was the attrition rate of 50 to 60% in such a short time. This lends credence to the idea that loners fleeing a given catastrophe into a hostile environment will have a high rate of die off. Those that successfully escaped the original catastrophe appear to have a better than even chance of dying within a few days of their escape.

Your comparing cricket behavior to human behavior, thats the same as comparing a apple to a orange, humans don't need to stay in pacts like insects or animals to survive, I myself am a loner and would rather stay that way and will do just fine in hard and good times...

[eastbay]

Well then.... that settles it for me!

I'll stick with my family and we'll have a much better chance, as long as we stick to eating whatever it is that crickets eat. Thanks!

[Cloud9]

I understand this is about crickets. Did you by any chance notice the fate of the hosts trying to leave N.O. after Katrina? I suspect the dynamics of movement, evacuations and swarms have a larger application than just a novel observation about insects.

[Narz]

But in Rambo & Commando one guys kills a whole army!

You expect one study to overpower 20,000 hours of television.

[Narz]

Your comparing cricket behavior to human behavior, thats the same as comparing a apple to a orange, humans don't need to stay in pacts like insects or animals to survive, I myself am a loner and would rather stay that way and will do just fine in hard and good times...

Looking forward to reading your biography. You can call it "Last (alive in) Vegas".

If you're a loner, what are you doing here?

[Cloud9]

The mechanisms behind the quick transition from chaos to order is also pertinent to understanding how animals that take advantage of such group dynamics forage, migrate, and flee from predators.

"Collective motion is everywhere around us," said study leader Jerome Buhl at the University of Sydney, Australia. "We are all familiar with the sight of ants forming endless lines on their trails, clouds of birds or fish schools moving in a perfect synchrony and even humans at the busy hours of an underground station or of a ring road."
Theoretical models had previously predicted that animals go through a phase transition that goes from disorder to order when trying to align with their neighbors.

Buhl and colleagues decided to put the idea to the test by placing locusts in an arena and filming them as they joined each other to form a group.

When there were a few of them together, they did not coalesce. As the group grew to 10 to 25 members, the locusts got closer to each other, but still did not move in unison.

It was only when the researchers placed about 30 locusts in the arena that the insects fell into a line and started moving in the same direction.

They had reached their "tipping point."

"The main advantage seems to be that it is safer to gang together than try to go it alone," said study team member Stephen Simpson, also from the University of Sydney. "When population density increases to the extent that you can no longer remain inconspicuous on your own, you are safer from predators in a crowd. Once you are in a crowd, you must keep moving to find food—or become food."

http://www.livescience.com/animals/0606 ... swarm.html

[Pops]

"The main advantage seems to be that it is safer to gang together than try to go it alone," said study team member Stephen Simpson, also from the University of Sydney. "When population density increases to the extent that you can no longer remain inconspicuous on your own, you are safer from predators in a crowd. Once you are in a crowd, you must keep moving to find food—or become food."

Makes sense, in a larger crowd the chances are there will be at least one individual weaker/slower/stupider than you.

Unless of course the crowd itself is the predator...

[wisconsin_cur]

Leave a bunch of crickets in a jar without food. Wait to see how long it takes them to start cannibalizing one another. Then it makes sense (if you are a cricket that still remembers how to feed and protect yourself) to leave the crowd.

[Cloud9]

You are right Cur. Panic must have some evolutionary benefit. It is always a good idea to keep an eye on the exit signs. When panic breaks out, the Devil consumes the hind most. In the face of a predator, the destruction of the slowest and weakest members of a group should allow other members more time to escape.

The success of such strategy lies in no small degree on the nature and size of the catastrophe. Running from a predator is not like running from societal collapse. Under such a circumstance, escape from the immediate danger does not necessarily place the survivor in a safer environment. Physical limitations will come into play. At some point, sleep will overtake all of us.

Thirty members watching each other’s six may be an optimum number. It is something worth considering.