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"Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air and they will tell you..." - Job 12:7

"I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine." - Psalm 50:11

Reporter Roger Highfield writes: "The reasons why starlings are able to fly with Red Arrow precision in vast numbers, tumbling and banking in nervous unison and without colliding, has tantalized scientists," who have "wanted to find out how flocks remain so incredibly cohesive—never leaving a bird isolated, when under attack by a bird of prey."

Now, a European project called STARFLAG (Starlings in Flight) believes they have found the answer to that mystery. (Hint: It has to do with the number seven.)

According to a report in the Telegraph, scientists with the project tested their theories and discovered that each bird interacts with seven other starlings—exactly that number—regardless of their distance from each other. In other words, they interact with a "fixed number of neighbors."

The team also concludes that the birds are smarter than was thought. “An interaction based upon the number of neighbors, rather than their distance, implies rather complex cognitive capabilities in birds,” adds Irene Giardina, a fellow researcher of the Centre for Statistical Mechanics and Complexity in Rome.

Used by permission Breaking Christian News www.breakingchristiannews.com / source: Roger Highfield: Telegraph, U.K.

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