The Power Of Numbers In The Animal Kingdom

a single animal can get a lot done by itself but for some the more that work together the better their chances of survival whether it's a hundred thousand Birds teaming up to dodge a predator 40 whales clubbing together to defeat the largest animal in existence or just two different species helping each other out when animals work together not even the sky's the limit yes strength and speed have their place but if you want real clout it all comes down to the power of numbers in the animal kingdo

m [Music] starlings were meant to fly once a year starlings in Europe and North America make their long migration south for the winter but at just seven to nine inches in size the birds need each other to survive the journey why because along the way they're vulnerable to attack from their vicious Predators peregrine falcons when faced with a hungry Falcon the flock's defense depends on its strength in numbers while one Starling facing a falcon alone would be toast in their thousands or even hun

dreds of thousands the tables are suddenly turned together the starlings form a murmuration where the birds all fly together in perfect sink the result is nothing short of spectacular and not only is it practically impossible for a predator to predict what they'll do next but these memorations are able to move at speeds exceeding 90 miles per hour adding to the Predators bewilderment but how do they move together so closely and quickly without knocking into one another Well scientists believe ea

ch Starling can communicates with just a few other starlings nearby and follows their cues and copies their movements in a process known as scale-free correlation so when one bird moves the others are rounded copy like a pulse that ripples through the flock but it's not a foolproof way of avoiding Predators Falcons can launch a surprise offensive that dislodge a bird from the group The Predator stands a much better chance against one bird it can track as opposed to hundreds of thousands rolling

over one another but starlings have accounted for this too the starlings rearranged the murmuration so it's constantly unclear which birds are leading the group with that the Falcon has no idea where the flank will move next or which bird will be easiest to dislodge yep and there are hundreds or thousands these tiny birds can reverse their fate and overpower their predators and we get one jaw-dropping visual effect band of buffaloes from the sky to the Savannah now it's time to get acquainted wi

th buck buffaloes on Africa's wide open Plains buffaloes are in constant Danger from the ecosystem's apex predators Lions to protect themselves buffaloes club together 9 herds of 10 or even 100 but up to 1 000 with Lion Prides ranging from a measly 2 to 40 members buffaloes have the upper hand in terms of numbers and therefore power when traveling in large groups like this buffaloes are extremely difficult to take down as the herd travels the younger weaker buffaloes are protected in the middle

of the group by an outer ring of stronger members together the herd can cooperate to protect the weak guarding the easier targets from Surprise line attacks but they don't just use their numbers for defense Buffalo herds can go on the offensive chasing down entire packs of lions or even sneaking up on sleeping ones the Buffaloes club together and charged through the pack dispersing the lines that wake up and trampling those that don't one-on-one the lion May well have the advantage but when the

whole herd charges the Lions rarely stand a chance even if the lion does succeed in taking a buffalo down it can take nearly 30 minutes to actually kill it both have extremely tough hides making them much harder to pin down than most prey but when it comes to buffaloes if you attack one then you anger the whole herd they may look tasty to a lion but these animals definitely don't make for an easy meal baking bees you've probably heard that if a honeybee uses its stinger it dies soon after but th

at is not always the case if a bee stings a mammal with fleshy skin the Barb of their stinger gets stuck ripping out the bees and sides bringing it to a Grizzly end but with insect Predators like spiders the Barb doesn't get stuck allowing the bead to deliver its venom through many painful stings though it's rarely just one bee fighting back honeybees can live in hives with well over 60 000 other bees and when one of them stings it releases an alarm pheromone alerting other nearby bees that an i

ntruder is in their midst this gives the bees a Target resulting in a pylon of angry bees furiously stinging and attacking the Predator dumb enough to think it could take on an entire Hive although that's not the only way bees defend their homes a subspecies known as the Japanese honeybee has developed a unique defense method that doesn't involve their Stingers when they detect a predator like a giant Asian Hornet the bees create a tide ball around them and frantically beat their wings they're n

ot trying to lift it into the air and drop it on the ground either they're generating heat and lots of it the mass of their moving bodies turns into a 116 degree Fahrenheit oven roasting The Hornet alive but how do the bees survive in these superheated bee balls well Japanese honeybees can survive in temperatures five to nine degrees Fahrenheit hotter than giant hornets so incredibly they control the shared temperature of the b-ball ensuring it doesn't get too hard for them to handle while roast

ing their enemy alive now that's what you call a buzz kill now I'm curious which do you think is worse being traveled by a herd of buffalo or being roasted to death by a ball of bees for the Buffalo hit that like button and for the bees hit subscribe and if you think they sound equally terrifying hit both all right now where were we what the flock any farmer will tell you the cheaper some of the dumbest animals on the planet but when they band together in a fly that can all change and groups ran

ging from five to Five Hundred sheep began exhibiting what's known as flock Behavior they'll congregate close to one another but come stressed when separated from their flock members and will inherently follow a leader so if one sheep starts to move the rest will usually follow no matter the size of the flock or the size of the Gap they all need to get through but why do they do this well cheaper natural prey species without much in the way of Defense aside from their sheer numbers which can ove

rwhelm many predators if a predator does attack the flock the Sheep will scram in different directions to confuse them when that happens hundreds of sheep dramatically disperse after scattering they reform in a tight formation to ward off the threat the result is a weirdly hypnotic drama as the Sheep stay together and race away from certain death talk about having each other's back Following the Leader have you ever looked to the sky and seen birds flying in a v-shape if you have there's a good

chance those birds were geese in a formation of around 25 individual members though sometimes more geese worked together to conserve their energy with each bird flying slightly above the bird in front the geese can control the direction of wind resistance since the goose at the head of the formation experiences the most drag the birds take it in turns to go in Pole Position falling back when they get tired by working together geese can fly for way longer with most facing less wind resistance so

what would happen if a goose migrated alone well that's what Pelicans do and the results aren't ideal all by themselves Against the Wind a single Pelican is forced to beat its wings more often causing strain and a higher heart rate a gaggle of geese on the other hand exert less energy overall so they can keep on trucking not only that but the v formation means the geese can ensure the whole group is together when flying through difficult conditions with the risk of a bird of prey swooping in at

any time the geese need to know who's with them and who hasn't made it and if you feel like you've noticed that shape somewhere else it might be because fighter pilots travel in the same formation for this exact same reason that's right in a safe formation like that there's nowhere on Earth geese can't get to even Hong Kong Free Riders usually animals know having too many members in their group can be detrimental to their survival but not always while mites and carrion beetles are Adept at worki

ng together sometimes the sheer number of mites can become well overwhelming I wouldn't blame you for thinking those mites were trying to kill that Gary and Beetle but what if I told you they were really just trying to get a free lift yeah because carrion beetles lay their eggs in Animal carcasses The Beetles had to compete with the Deluge of fly eggs and maggots who often get there first one Beetle alone can't eat enough maggots and eggs to create a space for its own larva so it brings the mite

s along who eat the maggots the fly eggs and larva of anything that is not a carrion beetle in exchange for making room the mites get a free ride from carcass to carcass and the relationship works out for everybody well unless they end up in a situation like this one if the sheer number of mites cashing in on a free Beetle rat gets too much they'll overwhelm their host preventing it from being able to move so I guess it's all in the name and enough numbers the might is mightier than we might hav

e thought hand holders there's a lot to love about otters the most lovable feature though might just be the way they instinctively work together sea otter families contain up to 100 individuals but it's helpful for them to stay in an even number why you ask well because in order to stick together they have to hold hands now sea otters rarely go on land and will stay in the water unless they're in real danger because of this they need a way to stay together even when they're asleep so they lock P

aws whenever they take a nap to prevent each other from floating away in some cases a mail otter will initiate hand-holding with female otters to literally keep hold of their mates this communicates to the other adders that the female has already found her mating partner and that the male has control issues clever as they are this isn't the only way otters have adapted to work together despite their small size most outer species show immense bravery when confronted with a predator that's right i

f the family is under attack there's nothing to group won't do to see off the threat river otters have been known to kill alligators that come to their Pond looking for food or in a fight they surely would have otherwise lost giant otters have scared off Jaguars by banding together and intimidating the big cat man those Jaguar's otter have known better birds of a feather next on our list of Cooperative Critters her guinea fowl guineafowl or ground Birds found mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and may

be it's just me but do they look just like the characters of chicken run to you well like those chickens guinea fowl understand the importance of working together to achieve their goals on a farm Guinea Fowler at the mercy of roaming Predators the social Birds who thrive in groups of at least six work together to make an intimidating noise that scares the enemy away well at least you'd never have to worry about these birds sneaking up on you while alerting the rest of the flock the guinea fowl a

larm also alerts other animals as well as Farmers to an approaching danger danger in the form say of a Sly and slippery snake these belly crawlers are notoriously difficult to detect especially when they blend into the surrounding grass scarily snakes kill at least 80 000 people every year never mind guineafowl but they're not as vulnerable as they seem and groups ranging roughly between 20 and 30 guinea fowl have been known to surround small snakes less than a foot long close ranks and take tur

ns pecking them to death the snake might be able to take on one or two but it's not got a chance of fighting off multiple mother Cluckers seems like these birds might be the perfect snake deterrent for any farmer providing they can handle the screams [Music] different Dentistry so we've seen how animals can achieve Power by banding together but not all animal cooperation relies on numbers alone astonishingly two animals with nothing in common like the crocodile and Plover bird can find a way to

help each other out through the medium of Dentistry I mean I agree there's nothing more annoying than getting things stuck in your teeth something that affects humans and animals but without a dentist or you know fingers crocodiles need some help getting those annoying bits of food debris and even parasites out of their teeth and that's where the Egyptian Plover bird comes in Crocs will often keep their mouths open to avoid overheating and while they do the bird will fly onto the Croc's teeth an

d start picking out the food to the Plover this is a Nifty way to pick up a meal and for the crocodile it's a convenient teeth cleaning a Croc's mouth can be prone to infections so a visit from the Plover hygienist can help them out quite a bit the fact that this incredible carnivore or doesn't try to eat the Plover while it sits helplessly in its mouth just shows this Apex predator's appreciation or that Bird's bravery eels and Rass there are many things that moray eels can do that we humans ca

n smell out prey produce toxin-laden mucus and you know breathe underwater but one thing these sea creatures can't do is clean their teeth to get around this moray eels team up with the oceans dentist blue stripe cleaner wrasse as the eels rhythmically open and close their mouths these tiny fish travel inside the eel's mouth and eat the parasites and dead tissue inside together both the eel and the rest benefit the eel skin and teeth are kept clean and healthy and the rest gets both the meal and

protection from larger fish in fact rats value these relationships so much they don't just stop at EOS the fishy fellas have been known to claim manta rays groupers and even barracudas so if you're afraid of the dentist why not get a cleaner rest to help you out instead I'm just kidding seeing a professional will always be better than sticking a tiny helpless fish in your mouth killer kin a single Orca is a pretty intimidating site I mean they're also known as killer whales for a reason so just

imagine the threat posed by large PODS of between 10 and 40 of these worrisome whales on top of that most Orca pods stick together for their entire lives giving the Pod plenty of time to work on their coordination once their next meal is found orcas work together to isolate their prey in small groups with all the Pod there they can chase play with and exhaust their prey until it's weak enough for them to stop fighting say there are 10 whales on the hunt the energy is divided between the group t

hat means each individual whale is exerting far less energy than it would if it was hunting alone and the more orcas there are the easier it is to surround the prey this prevents the need for lengthy and tiring chases helping the orcas save even more energy but what's scarier is that orcas are aware that they have more power when there's more of them in fact they can get so so powerful that pods have been known to make meals out of a host of intimidating sea creatures like giant squids Dolphins

sperm whales and even blue whales yep orcas have no problem taking on the largest animal on the planet which can reach more than a hundred feet long and weigh up to 200 tons but how do they hunt such large prey well orcas will Circle their target making it more difficult for the animal to escape they'll also communicate underwater using a complex system of audio cause this ensures every Orca is exactly where they need to be meaning any attack they make is a lethally coordinated scheme I'm not su

re if that's more fascinating or terrifying huddle up in the harsh 120 mile per hour Antarctic winds with temperatures dropping as low as negative 58 degrees Fahrenheit emperor penguins have a tough job keeping warm that's why these Hardy birds live in colonies with up to 10 000 others not just for moral support but for warmth to reserve their precious body heat while on land emperor penguins huddled together backs to the wind heads down and share their Collective body heat and these huge number

s Penguins must stay tightly packed if one penguin moves a single step the entire group must also move to accommodate the open space and stay warm research suggests they make small movements roughly every 30 to 60 seconds traveling just two to four inches with each step over time this leads to a large reorganization of the Huddle so those at the edge eventually get a turn to be super toasty in the middle now in real time it looks like the penguins are standing still not so interesting at first b

ut time lapse footage tells a different story when sped up we see how the penguins are moving in waves these waves move the group in mass and are instigated when a new penguin joins the Huddle as cozy as it all looks individual Penguins will typically only spend around 50 minutes in the Huddle this is because temperatures inside can get really hot up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit and there's only so much the birds can take so if you can't handle the heat get out of the huddle capture colleagues now

we've seen how prey animals can work together but did you know Predators can do the exact same thing take the coyote and the badger for example when these two Predators come across one another they don't fight it out instead they work together doubling their hunting power but here's the Curious Thing coyotes are solitary creatures most of the time either living alone or in loose family groups the benefit in teaming up with the badger is so when hunting elusive burrowing prey the coyote rules the

above ground areas while underground the badger Reigns Supreme while on the hunt the coyote will chase the prey on the ground level with the badger poised to take over should it head underground say the prey is a burrow animal like a ground squirrel coyotes working with Badgers catch a third more squirrels than coyotes going it alone but this doesn't necessarily mean that the two animals like each other they're still in competition for the same meal however the two conserve energy when they spl

it the work between them that means less work for more food which is what I'd call a win-win situation yes dolphin danger there is no creature more feared in the entire ocean than a shark whoever you are Fisher friend if a shark sets its jaws on you you're headed straight for a watery grave that is unless you're a bottlenose dolphin in the past dolphins have been known to kill sharks and while a dolphin could never do this alone and PODS of around 20 they can mount a very powerful attack though

it's no easy task some species of sharks like great whites can grow up to 21 feet long and have resilient sandpaper-like skin that only teeth as sharp as theirs could penetrate comparatively bottlenose dolphins can only grow about 12 feet long and their soft skin can be punctured easily but the advantage that dolphins have is in their agility speed and pod size while sharks are comparatively slow and solitary Hunters dolphins are Nimble social animals who all swam to a group member's defense sho

uld a shark attack dolphin snouts are made of thick bone with a blunt finish which can feel a hard ramming blow to the shark especially to the shark's soft underbelly even if this doesn't fatally injure the shark these repeated blows can be enough to make it think twice about targeting the Pod I guess that's one way of turning the tide Bubbles and Bella now we've seen animals all over the world forced to rely on each other for survival but you know what would really melt my heart if two animals

from different species had somehow formed a close friendship oh and would you look at that meat bubbles an African elephant and Bella a black labrador both the residents of Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina and have become the best of friends over time the two can often be seen playing with each other in the water bubbles will throw a ball with their trunk while Bella jumps off the back of Bubbles and swims to retrieve the ball if that's not adorable I don't know what is Bubbles is originall

y from Africa but came to the sanctuary in 1983 after her parents were both killed by poachers for their ivory tusks she was well cared for and even appeared on the Silver Screen in Ace Ventura when Nature cause but in 2007 a contractor who the sanctuary had hired to build a pool abandoned his black Labrador puppy there instead of pining for her owner though she formed an unlikely but Incredibly Close bond with bubbles through their shared love of aquatic Annex and to this day the dynamic duo we

re utterly Inseparable probably because it's really handy having a friend who also doubles up as a diving board which of these creature co-ops do you think was the most powerful and have you ever seen any of them in action with your own eyes let me know in the comments down below and thanks for watching [Music]