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Safety In Numbers — Why Thousands Of Birds Move As One

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Starlings put on a display as they gather in murmurations in November 2016 in Gretna, Scotland. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)
Starlings put on a display as they gather in murmurations in November 2016 in Gretna, Scotland. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

Flocks of birds or schools of fish often group together in massive numbers, and move as though they are a single organism with one brain.

The behavior is called a murmuration, and scientists are trying to figure out how — and why — the animals do it.

Paige Pfleger (@PaigePfleger) of Here & Now contributor WHYY went to a landfill in Atlantic County, New Jersey, to observe the phenomenon firsthand.

This segment aired on March 1, 2017.

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