The possibility of tracking animals with a variety of lightweight sensors gives the unique opportunity to investigate their behavior and the emergent phenomena, like flocking and swarming. We created Computational Intelligence methods to model and analyse the flight patterns of the ibis Geronticus eremita, looking for explanations (supported by data) for its peculiar V-shape formation during migrations. You can read the research (mainly driven by my former PhD student Elisa Perinot) below:
- Characterization of bird formations using fuzzy modelling, published on the Proceedings of the Royal Society Interface
- Characterizing the flying behaviour of bird flocks with fuzzy reasoning, presented at the Italian Workshop on Fuzzy Logic
Spoiler alert: they flight in that formation to save energy!
Acknowledgment
A big thank to Enrico Petraglio for his gorgeous picture of the bald ibis. Enrico is an incredibly talented photographer, you can find plenty of outstanding natural pictures on his Flickr profile.