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Flocking dynamics

Sheep lead the way

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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.

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Fig. 1: A flock of sheep.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems and ESAM, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Cristián Huepe

  2. CHuepe Labs, Chicago, IL, USA

    Cristián Huepe

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  1. Cristián Huepe
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Correspondence to Cristián Huepe.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Huepe, C. Sheep lead the way. Nat. Phys. 18, 1402–1403 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01744-3

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