Talk:Collective animal behaviour

Basic question

Perhaps a very basic question: Is the behaviour/communication models of insects such as ants, or bees also part of collective animal behaviour research? - Ants use "pheromones" to mark their trail, and in the long run, they will find the shortest path from A to B...--Eptalon (talk) 19:57, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't think collective animal behaviour is a settled field of research. I think it's simply done by ichthyologists and ornithologists who feel interested in it. Migration is well-researched in birds, and obviously is part of collective animal behaviour. Animal behaviour is the overall field of research, and covers a huge range of topics.

Research into colonial insects has been going on for a couple of centuries, and the phenomenon itself is of much greater antiquity. All forms of colonial insects have specialised genetic mechanisms whose origin dates back to the Mesozoic. To be a hive member is permanent, whereas other groups are perhaps not.

• Animal behaviour
  • Collective animal behaviour
    • Permanent
      • Social insects
    • Temporary
      • Migration
      • Group movement: herds, flocking and shoals
  • Other behaviour

I've just looked at enWP and seen they have a huge flag at the bottom of C.A.B. which breaks the field down as follows

• Collective animal behaviour
  • Swarming (includes both temporary and permanent associations)
  • Migration
  • Other

I guess we do whatever seems sensible to us. I would not want to deal with colonial insects and swarming birds together. And I would add that there are a number of invertebrate phyla which are wholly or partly colonial. Full-time colonialism should be treated separately. Macdonald-ross (talk) 05:01, 2 September 2010 (UTC)