A recent study developed a model that helps in the understanding of huddling, an activity used by rodents to improve group body temperature, effectively acting as a "super organism," according to Sci-News.
"Many species of mammals and birds spend a large proportion of their lives in direct contact with conspecifics, engaging in a synergistic pushing, climbing, wriggling, and burrowing behavior referred to as huddling," said the scientists who conducted the study.
The model explores the idea that individual behaviors can be used to regulate the temperature of the group as a whole, causing the group to act as a "super organism" and better adapt to changes in temperature.
"Our model describes the huddle as a self-organizing system, and reveals how complex group behaviors can emerge from very simple interactions between animals," said Jonathan Glancy of the University of Sheffield and lead author of the study.
Huddling requires each rat to sacrifice some of its body heat for the group as a whole and is a great example of self-organizing behavior that leads to an obvious evolutionary advantage, according to the Daily Mail.
Each member of the huddle continuously rotates, ensuring that no rat ever gets too hot or too cold, according to UPI. The model is essentially a constant rotation of "collective selfishness and collective sacrifice" that ultimately benefits the group.
