THE lowly limpet is wilier than we thought. It seems that they herd together like antelope to watch for predators and avoid getting eaten.
Tim Theobolds of the University of Plymouth in Devon was puzzled by the strange behaviour of oystercatchers hunting for limpets. Instead of staying put and prizing off all the limpets in one place, the birds move from patch to patch trying to dislodge one from each group. To find out why, Theobolds measured how hard it was to dislodge limpets after a simulated attack on another in their group. To his surprise, attacking one animal made…
