Colonial
Species that breed or live in dense groups, sometimes thousands strong.
What it means
A colony packs an enormous number of individuals into very little space, and that brings clear advantages: more eyes keeping watch, joint defence against predators and shared information about where the food is. The price is competition for space, the spread of parasites and the risk of losing everything if something goes wrong at that one spot. It is a common arrangement among seabirds, bats, social insects and many corals.
Species
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