For other uses, see 

Herd (disambiguation).

Boy herding a flock of sheep, India; a classic example of the domestic herding of animals

Wildebeest at the Ngorongoro Crater; an example of a herd in the wild

A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic.

The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called herding. These
animals are known as gregarious animals.
The term herd is generally applied to mammals, and most particularly to the
grazing ungulates that classically display this behaviour. Different terms are used for
similar groupings in other species; in the case of birds, for example, the word is flocking,
but flock may also be used for mammals, particularly sheep or goats. Large groups
of carnivores are usually called packs, and in nature a herd is classically subject
to predation from pack hunters.
Special collective nouns may be used for particular taxa (for example a flock of geese, if
not in flight, is sometimes called a gaggle) but for theoretical discussions of
behavioural ecology, the generic term herd can be used for all such kinds of
assemblage.[citation needed]
The word herd, as a noun, can also refer to one who controls, possesses and has care
for such groups of animals when they are domesticated. Examples of herds in this
sense include shepherds (who tend to sheep), goatherds (who tend to goats),
and cowherds (who tend to cattle).
A herd of cows in Punjab.

The structure and size of herds[edit]

Traditional herding of goats in Greece. Overgrazing by poorly managed traditional herding is one of the primary
causes of desertification and maquis degradation.

Wildebeest in Masai Mara during the Great Migration. Overgrazing is not caused by nomadic grazers in huge
populations of travel herds,[1][2] nor by holistic planned grazing.[3]

When an association of animals (or, by extension, people) is described as a herd, the

implication is that the group tends to act together (for example, all moving in the same
direction at a given time), but that this does not occur as a result of planning or
coordination. Rather, each individual is choosing behaviour in correspondence with
most other members, possibly through imitation or possibly because all are responding
to the same external circumstances. A herd can be contrasted with a coordinated group
where individuals have distinct roles. Many human groupings, such as army
detachments or sports teams, show such coordination and differentiation of roles, but so
do some animal groupings such as those of eusocial insects, which are coordinated
through pheromones and other forms of animal communication.
A herd is, by definition, relatively unstructured. However, there may be two [4][further explanation
needed]
 or a few animals which tend to be imitated by the bulk of the herd more than others.
An animal in this role is called a "control animal", since its behaviour will predict that of
the herd as a whole. It cannot be assumed, however, that the control animal is
deliberately taking a leadership role; control animals are not necessarily socially
dominant in conflict situations, though they often are. Group size is an important
characteristic of the social environment of gregarious species.

Costs and benefits of animals in groups[edit]

Traffic jam created by a herd of cattle in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The reason why animals form herds can not always be stated easily, since the
underlying mechanisms are diverse and complex. Understanding the social behaviour
of animals and the formation of groups has been a fundamental goal in the field
of sociobiology and behavioural ecology. Theoretical framework is focused on the costs
and benefits associated with living in groups in terms of the fitness of each individual
compared to living solitarily. Living in groups evolved independently multiple times in
various taxa and can only occur if its benefits outweigh the costs within an evolutionary
timescale. Thus, animals form groups whenever this increases their fitness compared to
living in solitary.[5]
The following includes an outline about some of the major effects determining the trade-
offs for living in groups.
Dilution effect[edit]
Perhaps the most studied effect of herds is the so-called dilution effect. The key
argument is that the risk of being preyed upon for any particular individual is smaller
within a larger group, strictly due to the fact that a predator has to decide which
individual to attack. Although the dilution effect is influenced by so-called selfish
herding, it is primarily a direct effect of group size instead of the position within a herd.
Greater group sizes result in higher visibility and detection rates for predators, but this
relation is not directly proportional and saturates at some point, while the risk of being
attacked for an individual is directly proportional to group size. Thus, the net effect for
an individual in a group concerning its predation risk is beneficial. [6][7]
Whenever groups, such as shoals of fish, synchronize their movements, it becomes
harder for predators to focus on particular individuals. However, animals that are weak
and slower or on the periphery are preferred by predators, so that certain positions
within the group are better than others (see selfish herd theory). For fit animals, being in
a group with such vulnerable individuals may thus decrease the chance of being preyed
upon even further.[5]
Collective vigilance[edit]

A snow goose gaggle may contain thousands.

Meerkats (Suricata suricatta) take turn to keep guard while other members of the group are resting or feeding.

The effect of collective vigilance in social groups has been widely studied within the
framework of optimal foraging theory and animal decision making. While animals under
the risk of predation are feeding or resting, they have to stay vigilant and watch for
predators. It could be shown in many studies (especially for birds) that with increase in
group size individual animals are less attentive, while the overall vigilance suffers little
(many eyes effect). This means food intake and other activities related to fitness are
optimized in terms of time allocation when animals stay in groups. [8]
However, some details about this concepts remain unclear. Being the first to detect
predators and react accordingly can be advantageous, implying individuals may not fully
be able to rely only on the group. Moreover, the competition for food can lead to the
misuse of warning calls, as was observed for great tits: If food is scarce or monopolized
by dominant birds, other birds (mainly subordinates) use antipredatory warning calls to
induce an interruption of feeding and gain access to resources. [9]
Another study concerning a flock of geese suggested that the benefits of lower vigilance
concerned only those in central positions, due to the fact that the possibly more
vulnerable individuals in the flock's periphery have a greater need to stay attentive. This
implies that the decrease in overall vigilance arises simply because the geese on the
edge of the flock comprise a smaller group when groups get large. [10][8] A special case of
collective vigilance in groups is that of sentinels. Individuals take turn in keeping guard,
while all others participate in other activities. [5] Thus, the strength of social bonds and
trust within these groups have to be much higher than in the former cases.
Foraging[edit]
Hunting together enables group-living predators, such as wolves and wild dogs, to catch
large prey, what they are unable to achieve when hunting alone. Working together
significantly improves foraging efficiency, meaning the net energy gain of each
individual is increased when animals are feeding collectively. A group of Spinner
dolphins is for instances able to force fish into a small confined space, which makes
capturing prey particularly easy, as there is no way for the latter to flee. Furthermore,
large groups are able to monopolize resources and defend them against solitary
animals or smaller groups of the same or different species. It was shown that larger
groups of lions tend to be more successful in protecting prey from hyenas than small
ones.[5] Being able to communicate the location and type of food to other group
members may increase the chance for each individual to find profitable food sources, a
mechanism which is commonly known to be used by bees, which use a so-
called Waggle dance, and several species birds using food calls.
In terms of Optimal foraging theory, animals always try to maximize their net energy
gain when feeding, because this is positively correlated to their fitness. If their energy
requirement is fixed and additional energy is not increasing fitness, they will use as little
time for foraging as possible (time minimizers). If on the other hand time allocated to
foraging is fixed, an animal's gain in fitness is related to the quantity and quality of
resources it feeds on (Energy maximizers).[11]
Since foraging may be energetically costly (searching, hunting, handling, etc.) and may
induce risk of predation, animals in groups may have an advantage, since their
combined effort in locating and handling food will reduce time needed to forage
sufficiently. Thus, animals in groups may have shorter searching and handling times as
well as an increased chance of finding (or monopolizing) highly profitable food, which
makes foraging in groups beneficial for time minimizers and energy maximizers alike. [11][5]
The obvious disadvantage of foraging in groups is (scramble or direct) competition with
other group members. In general, it is clear that the amount of resources available for
each individual decreases with group size. If the resource availability is critical,
competition within the group may get so intense, that animals no longer experience
benefits from living in groups. However, only the relative importance of within- and
between-group competition determines the optimal group size and ultimately the
decision of each individual whether or not to stay in the group. [5]
Diseases and parasites[edit]
Since animals in groups stay near each other and interact
frequently, infectious diseases and parasites spread much easier between them
compared to solitary animals. Studies have shown a positive correlation between herd
size and intensity of infections, but the extent to which this sometimes drastic reduction
in fitness governs group size and structure is still unclear. [5] However, some animals
have found countermeasures such as propolis in beehives or grooming in social
animals.
Energetic advantages[edit]
Staying together in groups often brings energetic advantages. Birds flying together in a
flock use aerodynamic effects to reduce energetic costs, e.g. by positioning themselves
in a V shaped formation.[12] A similar effect can be observed when fish swim together in
fixed formations.
Another benefit of group living occurs when climate is harsh and cold: By staying close
together animals experience better thermoregulation, because their overall surface to
volume ratio is reduced. Consequently, maintaining adequate body temperatures
becomes less energetically costly.[5]
Antipredatory behaviour[edit]
The collective force of a group mobbing predators can reduce risk of predation
significantly. Flocks of raven are able to actively defend themselves against eagles and
baboons collectively mob lions, which is impossible for individuals alone. This behaviour
may be based on reciprocal altruism, meaning animals are more likely to help each
other if their conspecifics did so earlier.[5]
Mating[edit]
Animals living in groups are more likely to find mates than those living in solitary and are
also able to compare potential partners in order to optimize genetic quality for their
offspring.[5]

Domestic herds[edit]

A shepherd guiding his sheep through the high desert outside of Marrakech, Morocco

Domestic animal herds are assembled by humans for practicality in raising them and
controlling them. Their behaviour may be quite different from that of wild herds of the
same or related species, since both their composition (in terms of the distribution of age
and sex within the herd) and their history (in terms of when and how the individuals
joined the herd) are likely to be very different.

Human parallels[edit]
The term herd is also applied metaphorically to human beings in social psychology, with
the concept of herd behaviour. However both the term and concepts that underlie its
use are controversial.
The term has acquired a semi-technical usage in behavioral finance to describe the
largest group of market investors or market speculators who tend to "move with the
market", or "follow the general market trend". This is at least a plausible example of
genuine herding, though according to some researchers it results from rational
decisions through processes such as information cascade and rational expectations.
Other researchers, however, ascribe it to non-rational process such as mimicry, fear
and greed contagion. "Contrarians" or contrarian investors are those who deliberately
choose to invest or speculate counter to the "herd".

See also[edit]
 Stampede
 Herding
 Herd behavior
 Selfish herd theory
 Herder
 Catalina Island buffalo herd
 Shoaling and schooling
 Primate sociality
 Flock (birds)
 Pack (canine)
 List of animal names

Literature[edit]
 Krause, J., & Ruxton, G. D. (2002). Living in groups. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Herds.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Herd".

Look up herd in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

1. ^ Laduke, Winona (1999).  All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Cambridge,
MA: South End Press. p. 146.  ISBN  0896085996. Retrieved 30 March  2015.
2. ^ Duval, Clay.  "Bison Conservation: Saving an Ecologically and Culturally Keystone
Species"  (PDF). Duke University. Archived from  the original  (PDF)  on March 8, 2012.
Retrieved April 13, 2015.
3. ^ "Holistic Land Management: Key to Global Stability" by Terry Waghorn. Forbes. 20
December 2012.
 4. ^ http://econdse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/herd-scharfstein.pdf [bare URL PDF]
5. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j Majolo, B., & Huang, P. (2020). Group living. In J. Vonk & T.
Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior.
6. ^ Coster-Longman, C., Landi, M., & Turillazzi, S. (2002). The role of passive defense (selfish
herd and dilution effect) in the gregarious nesting of Liostenogaster wasps (Vespidae,
Hymenoptera, Stenogastrinae). Journal of Insect Behavior, 15(3), 331–350.
7. ^ Foster, W. A., & Treherne, J. E. (1981). Evidence for the dilution effect in the selfish herd
from fish predation on a marine insect. Nature, 293(5832), 466–467.
8. ^ Jump up to:a b Lima, S. L., & Dill, L. M. (1990). Behavioral decisions made under the risk of
predation: a review and prospectus. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 68(4), 619–640.
9. ^ Møller, A. P. (2010). False Alarm Calls as a Means of Resource Usurpation in the Great Tit
Parus major. Ethology, 79(1), 25–30.
10. ^ Inglis, I. R., & Lazarus, J. (1981). Vigilance and Flock Size in Brent Geese: The Edge
Effect. Zeitschrift Für Tierpsychologie, 57(3–4), 193–200.
11. ^ Jump up to:a b Pyke, G. H., Pulliam, H. R., & Charnov, E. L. (1977). Pyke etal-1977. Optimal
foraging-a selective review of theory and tests. the quarterly review of biology. In The
Quarternarly Review of Biology (Vol. 52, Issue 2, pp. 137–154).
12. ^ Portugal, S. J., Hubel, T. Y., Fritz, J., Heese, S., Trobe, D., Voelkl, B., Hailes, S., Wilson, A.
M., & Usherwood, J. R. (2014). Upwash exploitation and downwash avoidance by flap
phasing in ibis formation flight. Nature, 505(7483), 399–402.

hide
v

e
Swarming

iological  Agent-based model in biology

warming  Collective animal behavior

 Droving

 Flock 
o flocking

o sort sol

 Herd 
o herd behavior

 Mixed-species foraging flock

 Mobbing behavior 
o feeding frenzy

 Pack 
o pack hunter

 Patterns of self-organization in ants 

o ant mill

o symmetry breaking of escaping ants

 Shoaling and schooling 

 o bait ball

 Swarming behaviour

 Swarming (honey bee)

 Swarming motility

 Animal migration 
o altitudinal

o tracking

o coded wire tag

 Bird migration 
o flyways

o reverse migration

 Cell migration

 Fish migration 
o diel vertical
migration
o Lessepsian

o salmon run

o sardine run

 Homing 
o natal

o philopatry

 Insect migration 
o butterflies 

 monarch
 Sea turtle migration

 Agent-based models

 Ant colony optimization

 Boids
Swarm
 Crowd simulation
gorithms
 Particle swarm optimization

 Swarm intelligence

 Swarm (simulation)

e motion  Active matter

 Collective motion

 Self-propelled particles 
 o clustering

 Vicsek model

 BIO-LGCA

 Ant robotics

 Microbotics

robotics  Nanorobotics

 Swarm robotics

 Symbrion

 Allee effect

 Animal navigation

 Collective intelligence

 Decentralised system

 Eusociality

 Group size measures

 Microbial intelligence
ed topics
 Mutualism

 Predator satiation

 Quorum sensing

 Spatial organization

 Stigmergy

 Military swarming

 Task allocation and partitioning of social insects

Authority control: National

 Germany
libraries 
Categories: 
 Ethology
 Group processes
 Herding
 This page was last edited on 3 December 2022, at 21:52 (UTC).
 Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.