Herd Instinct

Penguins. Lemmings. Harvard MBAs. A lead animal turns in one direction and then everyone else follows. They're the herd. The wallabee. The antelope. The zebra.

Herd instincts evolved in Darwinian fashion for good reason. When alligators were fully fed, they simply couldn't eat any more of the massive herd that was stomping on their leather heads trying to get across the river.

But in finance, the herd instinct is dangerous. It causes insecure investors to just follow whomever they perceive as knowing their s***. Often without thinking. "Them thar internet stocks hyar in the late '90s are a-goin' up! We's gots ta get me some more them shares...."

And the herd buys and buys. Until it stops. And then every zebra gets eaten by the alligators until the last two survive, hoping to derive meaning from the picture we offer to you in illustration of repopulating the herd.