You May Have Been Born to Flock

You May Have Been Born to Flock

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More than 70,000 people will flood into the Superdome in New Orleans this weekend, while thousands more swarm through the city’s French Quarter. From a certain perspective, might those Super Bowl fans resemble, say, a herd of wildebeest or school of fish? Or maybe a murmuration of starlings?

After all, collective behaviors are found across the animal kingdom — and regardless of our penchant for Shakespeare and beer helmets, humans are animals, too. Some scientists think the essential components of flocking behavior, an instinctive tendency to join with others and follow their lead, remain alive inside us.