Scale-free correlations in starling flocks.

From bird flocks to fish schools, animal groups often seem to react to environmental perturbations as if of one mind. Most studies in collective animal behavior have aimed to understand how a globally ordered state may emerge from simple behavioral rules. Less effort has been devoted to understanding the origin of collective response, namely the way the group as a whole reacts to its environment.

New statistical tools for analyzing the structure of animal groups.

The statistical characterization of the spatial structure of large animal groups has been very limited so far, mainly due to a lack of empirical data, especially in three dimensions (3D). Here we focus on the case of large flocks of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in the field. We reconstruct the 3D positions of individual birds within flocks of up to few thousands of elements.