Nicolas Perony: Puppies! Now that I’ve got your attention, complexity theory

Animal behavior isn’t complicated, but it is complex. Nicolas Perony studies how individual animals — be they Scottish Terriers, bats or meerkats — follow simple rules that, collectively, create larger patterns of behavior. And how this complexity born of simplicity can help them adapt to new circumstances, as they arise.

Nicolas Perony models the movement of animal groups to understand: what is the individual behavior that guides the behavior of the larger society?