A honey bee worker visiting a flower. Courtesy of Photocase.com

One of the most impressive but also slightly terrifying sights in nature is the migrating bee swarm consisting of thousands upon thousands of individual bees moving in a coordinated and synchronised manner. Bee swarms form because the bees are searching for a new nest site and such swarms can be observed as a bundle of individuals clustering and remaining almost motionless in a tree for days with only single scouts bees coming and leaving, However, suddenly within a matter of seconds the entire swarm counting up to 10.000 bees will take to the air at once.

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Fish can use electric signals for different kind of communication. Photo courtesy of Photocase.com

We all know the impressive electric discharges of up to 500 volt used in the electric eel to catch prey or to defend itself against hapless swimmers. However, the so-called weakly electric fish uses their much more harmless discharges for other matters. It has been known for some time that weakly electric fish uses discharges as a means of electrolocation , whereby they can sense surrounding obstacles in murky water, similar to echolocation in bats. Recently, it was shown in one species of electric fish that it also uses these electric discharges as a mean of communication.

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The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). Courtesy of Photocase.com

Displays include hunching of the back, fin flexing and rapid approach followed by sharp turns used as threat signals. The great white shark, furthermore, breaches the surface and splashes with the tail as a sign of a high aggression level... 

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