They hatched from eggs that were collected together in chambers. They were fundamentally reliant upon one another. If a Zamp was separated, it would die in a matter of hours. After they hatched, any runts would be left to die and the rest would form herds. Around its cortex, each Zamp had a transistor strand that linked it to its herd. The runts had a lesser or malformed strand. As Smith put it: I don’t think the healthy Zamps regard the runts as part of the species.Smith