3 Ways to ‘Do Unto Others…’ Part 2
Last week we wrote about the importance of taking 3 key precautions to prevent COVID-19 infections. Today, we continue this topic with an infusion of guidance from Nature, through the science of biomimicry.
In order to be safe, birds and fish use swarming behavior. They act as one giant organism to ward off predators. We see this behavior with starlings and sardines. Starlings will fly in a murmuration to fend off a hawk, and they achieve this formation by following 3 simple rules:
- Stay within a certain distance from your neighbors;
- Maintain this distance as you and they move and swerve;
- If you lose your spot in the formation, get back to it as quickly as possible.
With these 3 simple rules, starlings can confuse and ward off their predators.
Similarly, sardines create a huge spherical formation when a predator fish arrives to feed on them. As you can see in the image below, this formation creates the illusion of a giant organism, which makes it harder for the predator fish to attack any one fish. Safety in numbers is a useful tactic.
Coming back to COVID-19, we are being asked to mimic these examples of unity and solidarity, with one important exception: we cannot be together physically because that is how the virus spreads. So, we must be together in action, practicing the 3 precautionary behaviors we talked about in last week’s post: mask wearing, distancing, and sanitizing. We need to do this every time we are outside our bubble.
Our actions, when done in complete unity by each and every member of society, can stop the spread of this virus. The only thing that remains now is for each of us to fulfill our role in this formation.
Share with us your thoughts about these simple rules from Nature.
