Experiments with small flocks of sheep show intermittent collective motion events driven by random leaders that guide the group. A model reveals information pooling capabilities, suggesting a mechanism for swarm intelligence.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Gómez-Nava, L., Bon, R. & Peruani, F. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01769-8 (2022).
Vicsek, T., Czirók, A., Ben-Jacob, E., Cohen, I. & Shochet, O. Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 1226 (1995).
Couzin, I. D., Krause, J., Franks, N. R. & Levin, S. A. Nature 433, 513–516 (2005).
Romanczuk, P., Couzin, I. D. & Schimansky-Geier, L. Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 010602 (2009).
Ferrante, E., Turgut, A. E., Dorigo, M. & Huepe, C. Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 268302 (2013).
Romanczuk, P., Bär, M., Ebeling, W., Lindner, B. & Schimansky-Geier, L. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 202, 1–162 (2012).
Bazazi, S. et al. Curr. Biol. 18, 735–739 (2008).
Katz, Y., Tunstrøm, K., Ioannou, C. C., Huepe, C. & Couzin, I. D. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 18720–18725 (2011).
Gautrais, J. PLoS Comput. Biol. 8, e1002678 (2012).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huepe, C. Sheep lead the way. Nat. Phys. 18, 1402–1403 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01744-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01744-3