Creatures with Herding applied are surrounded by a faint blue sphere.
Herding is an ability that boosts the defense of a combined creature by 40% when it is near at least three other members of its kind.
In Insect Invasion (may apply to other versions as well), the defense boosted value cannot go over 75. Also, creatures with 75 or more defense cannot gain the ability Herding in the Creature Generator even though they have a body part that would allow it. This is made to prevent the player from spending Electricity in an ability that would have no effect at all.
The boost from the Genetic Amplifier is applied after Herding, so it is not doubled by Herding.
Please note that the defense boosted value is not displayed in the interface, as opposed to the Genetic Amplifier boost.
Bugs:
Even though Pack Hunter can be possessed along with Herding, Herding's defense boost won't work if a creature owns both abilities (at least in Insect Invasion, not tested in the other versions).
Strategy:
Herding is most effective on creatures with a lot of Defense, as it is a multiplier. However, as it is capped, it is the most cost effective on a creature with 46 Defense after the Genetic Amplifier Defense boost (46 x 1.4 + 10 = 74 Defense), or on a creature with 53 Defense before the Defense boost (53 x 1.4 = 74 Defense).
Because Herding increases the defense of creatures, and therefore makes them more vulnerable to piercing damage, those that already have a high defense stat are probably better off without this ability.
It is recommended to build fairly large Herds; in a group of four creatures, only one of them would need to be killed to remove the bonus from the others. Creating larger groups makes this ability more reliable in combat.
Animals with this ability[]
Ant Queen (Inherent)
Diplodocus (Inherent) (Shadow only)
Elephant (Inherent)
Gorilla (Inherent)
Hippopotamus (Inherent)
Musk Ox (Inherent)
Ram (Inherent)
Warthog (Inherent)
Trivia[]
The beta design of Impossible Creatures indicated Herding with a blue ring, rather than a sphere, around creatures.