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I had the thought that perhaps there's some sort of voting in flocks of migrating birds. I had this idea while listening to a flock of starlings make a tremendo
by bglazer 8y ago
I had the thought that perhaps there's some sort of voting in flocks of migrating birds. I had this idea while listening to a flock of starlings make a tremendous amount of noise. It seems like a waste of precious calories to chirp and squawk so much, so surely there's some function to all the vocalizations. Listening closely, I found they were making only a few different varieties of calls. Perhaps they're saying something akin to "go left" or "go right"?
Given the extreme distances that some birds travel, it seems unlikely that each bird remembers the exact route, but maybe every bird remembers separate fragments. As a flock, they have a distributed memory of the whole migration path. They then vote on the best path by calling out constantly.
I looked a bit at the research, and it seems that they're probably using the sun/moon or magnetic fields to navigate. It's still a fun thought though.
I still wonder what's the purpose of the constant calling?
- L_226 8y ago> I still wonder what's the purpose of the constant calling? Maybe they are just having a good time.
- moftz 8y agoMaybe it's like twitch plays pokemon. Everyone kind of knows how to play but everyone is saying something a bit different until groups form that start to dictate the path. Everyone shouting directions might sound like noise but all it takes is a small minority to rise above the noise floor to convince everyone to follow.
- nwsm 8y agohttps://unanimous.ai/what-is-si/ https://unanimous.ai/what-is-si/
- lostlogin 8y ago‘Let’s escalate this call to the steering group’.
- darkpuma 8y ago> "I looked a bit at the research, and it seems that they're probably using the sun/moon or magnetic fields to navigate. It's still a fun thought though." I don't think that contradicts your hypothesis. Whether they're using magnetic fields, landmarks, the sun or sextants and chronometers, the question still remains of where they store their map. Does each bird store the entire map flawlessly in their head, or does the correct map without errors only exist collectively?