Frequency signatures: Bushbuck to Cape Golden Mole
Each card gives a species’ behavioural archetype, its frequency — how often it commits effort and how long each commitment lasts — and a waveform tracing that rhythm.
Frequency signatures
Each waveform traces one species’ working rhythm — where it spends effort, and where it waits. 2,327 species, A–Z; showing 361–384.
Bushbuck
Freeze First, Then Stand
Solitary • Concealed • Immobile
Quiet low-expenditure browsing in cover makes this a single low-frequency system.
Bushmaster
Weeks-Held Ambush Post
Posted • Fasting • Weeks
Because near-total inactivity supports one committed strike, this is a bimodal system.
Bushy-tailed Mongoose
Four Toes Instead of Five
Working leaf litter alone • Digging for insects • Moving only after dark
Slow, quiet and solitary, this is a low-frequency system.
By-the-wind Sailor
Surface Sail Drift Colony
Rhythmic • Drifting • Filter-feed
Because the entire organism is built for ongoing, externally powered movement and steady capture rather than long storage or explosive bursts, its operating rhythm is a mid-frequency system: rhythmic, repeatable, and synchronized to the changing wind and waves.
Cabbage Cluster Moth
Feeding Where Spray Cannot Reach
Eggs laid in clusters on the undersides of leaves near the centre of the plant • Larvae moving inward to the growing point and feeding within the folded heart leaves • The tissue around them shielding them from any spray applied to the outside of the plant
Because generations run over weeks, it operates as a low-frequency system.
Cacomistle
Hind Feet Turned All the Way Round
Climbing after dark • Reversing the ankles • Coming down head first
Continuous nightly movement and feeding makes this a mid-frequency system.
Cactus Mouse
Torpid by Day Among Rocks and Cactus
Foraging • Climbing • Early-night
That makes it a bimodal system: early-night foraging and daytime or seasonal torpor.
Cactus Wren
Roost Nests Built Among Cholla Spines
Foraging • Territorial • Nest-building
That makes it a bimodal system: territorial foraging and building, and sheltered rest in shade and roost nests.
Caiman Lizard
Shell Broken Then Spat Out
Diving • Collecting • Crushing at the back of the jaw
Steady daily foraging makes this a mid-frequency system.
Cairo Spiny Mouse
Skin That Tears Away and Regrows
Foraging • Nocturnal • Rock-bound
That makes it a bimodal system: steady nocturnal foraging and rare, violent escapes followed by regrowth.
California Condor
Managed Lead-Exposure Survival
Monitored • Treated • Continuous
Because the whole system runs on a very slow cycle, it is a low-frequency system.
California Quail
Covey Sentinel Relay
Covey • Watched • Brush-tethered
That makes the quail a mid-frequency system: rhythmic and coordinated, where safety comes from shared attention and from the geometry of staying near cover.
California Scrub-Jay
Remembering What Was Buried Where and When
Caching • Scattering • Concealing
That makes it a bimodal system: intensive autumn caching and a long, memory-driven recovery that continues for months.
California Sea Lion
Foreflipper Turn Drive
Manoeuvring • Pursuing • Whisker-guided
That makes the sea lion a mid-frequency system: continuous, agile and organised around changing direction rather than sustaining one.
California Spiny Lobster
A Sound With Nothing Hard
Sheltering in rock crevices by day with antennae outward • Drawing a soft plectrum at the antenna base across a file on the head • Producing a rasping noise that continues even immediately after a moult
Since the rasp repeats many times a second, it operates as a high-frequency system.
Camel Spider
Jaw-Powered Run-Down
Sprinting • Gripping • Chopping
A short life, a direct attack and an expensive engine make this a single high-frequency system.
Campbell's Dwarf Hamster
A Father at the Birth
A male remaining with the female through gestation rather than leaving after mating • That male present at the birth, pulling the pups free, clearing the membranes and licking them dry • Continued warming, grooming and retrieval of the pups afterwards, so two animals rather than one raise the litter
Because the cycle is per litter, it operates as a low-frequency system.
Canada Goose
V-Formation Lead Swap
Formation • Shared • Long-haul
That makes the goose a mid-frequency system: rhythmic, coordinated and built around distributing a cost.
Canada Lynx
Low-Load Paw Flotation
Tracking • Floating • Hare-tied
Because the system runs on steady hunting effort tied to one resource, it is a mid-frequency system.
Candy-striped Leafhopper
A Powder Repelling Water
Specialised gland cells producing protein granules a few hundred nanometres across, secreted in liquid and dried onto the surface • The insect combing that powder over its whole body with brushes on its legs • A microscopically rough coating that water and sticky plant sap cannot wet or adhere to
Because the maintenance is continuous, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
Cane Toad
Parotoid Toxin Shield
Slow • Defended • Unhurried
That makes the cane toad a low-frequency system: slow, cheap to run and protected by chemistry rather than by movement.
Cape Buffalo
A Herd That Votes by Gaze
Resting as a herd before a move • Having individual females stand, gaze in a direction and lie down again • Moving off in the average of the directions gazed in rather than following any leader
Since moves occur daily within a slow annual cycle, it operates as a low-frequency system.
Cape Dwarf Chameleon
Shrub-Bound Elastic Tongue Ambush
Slow • Gripping • Shrub-bound
Patient movement within one patch sets a low baseline, while elastic energy stored and released in the tongue adds a separate explosive moment, so the system is bimodal: low-frequency living, high-frequency capture.
Cape Golden Mole
Blind Digger Feeling for Footsteps in the Soil
Tunnelling • Blind • Vibration-sensing
That makes it a bimodal system: shallow vibration-guided foraging and low-energy rest.