Re: Flocking

[Betty Cunningham <bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

'flocking' to a computer programmer is actually a very simple algorythm,
so we've been able to simulate animal 'flocking' for many many years
with computer graphics.  It's the collision avoidance of the multiple
items, however, which is a more advanced problem we have only addressed
recently.

I'd be interested to know if plesiosaurs, mososaurs, or ichthyosaurs
demonstrated a similar neighbor-body-awareness sensor as that of fish-
who have a body line sensor that tracks the location of it's nearest
neighbor by water pressure changes and detects the neighbor's direction
changes.  Dolphins probably do the equivalent
neighbor-collision-avoidance with sonar.

-Betty Cunningham


Antony L Hedges wrote:> 
> Whilst there was a lot of 'wrong' details about the original Jurassic Park
> film, there was a good example of some flocking behaviour in evidence.
> Whilst no one will ever know for sure if non-avian theropods flocked like
> birds, it is a nice idea.

-- 
Flying Goat Graphics
http://www.flyinggoat.com
(Society of Vertebrate Paleontology member)
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