Frequency signatures: Amboina Sailfin Lizard to Andean Cock-of-the-rock
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 49–72.
Amboina Sailfin Lizard
Neural-Spine Tail Sail
Basking on the branch • Carrying the sail • Dropping into the river
Because the basking, feeding and moving proceed at one steady daily tempo, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
American Alligator
Dug Water-Hole Wait
Submerged • Still • Cold-cheap
That makes it a bimodal system: an extremely cheap wait, in a place it engineered, punctuated by brief total commitment.
American Avocet
Upcurved Bill Tactile Sweep
Wading • Scything • Repeating
Continuous rhythmic coverage rather than any single strike makes this a mid-frequency system.
American Badger
Excavated Prey Extraction
Digging the prey out • Sealing the exits first • Moving to the next colony
Since the digging runs at one sustained heavy tempo, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
American Bison
Head Swung as a Snowplough
Grazing • Sweeping • Moving on
Continuous grazing and steady movement through a hard season makes this a mid-frequency system.
American Black Bear
Recycling Its Own Waste Nitrogen
An active bear feeding heavily, excreting normally and laying down fat through the autumn
This is a different operating architecture rather than a slowed version of the same one, so it operates as a bimodal system.
American Bullfrog
Vocal Sac Resonator
Calling • Resonant • Water-tethered
That makes the bullfrog a mid-frequency system: rhythmic and repeatable, built on converting a small input into a large signal.
American Crocodile
Salt Glands on the Tongue
Floating • Salt-excreting • Waiting
That makes it a bimodal system: prolonged stillness and a rare violent strike.
American Crow
Remembering a Face, Telling Others
Learning the face of a person who threatened it • Scolding that face on sight for years • Passing the association to birds that never saw the event
Since encounters recur daily, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
American Dipper
A Songbird That Walks on the Riverbed
Submerged • Gripping • Countercurrent
That makes it a mid-frequency system: steady repeated work in a medium its whole family avoids.
American Eel
One Ocean-Born Stock Spread Along a Continent
Invading • Nocturnal • Mass-moving
Because the system switches from a mass inland invasion to a long settled growth phase, it is a phase-change system.
American Giant Millipede
Bleeding Quinones on Contact
Coiling tightly when disturbed • Releasing benzoquinones from pores along each body segment • Staining and repelling whatever is handling it, and remaining coiled until the threat leaves
Since the cycle runs across years, it operates as a low-frequency system.
American Kestrel
False Eyes on the Nape
Perching in the open on wires and posts with the back exposed • Carrying two black ocelli on the nape that read as a face • Hunting small prey from that perch and from a hover
Since strikes recur through the day, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
American Lobster
Growth That Never Stops
Moulting throughout life rather than reaching a final size • Continuing to grow, feed and reproduce at ages of many decades • Showing little of the decline in fertility or survival that age normally brings
Since moults are years apart, it operates as a low-frequency system.
American Marten
Tube Shape Bought With Heat
Threading • Searching • Never full
Constant expensive searching makes this a single high-frequency system.
American Paddlefish
Electrosensory Rostrum Sweep
Swimming • Filtering • Continuous
Because feeding is a continuous steady process, it is a mid-frequency system.
American Pika
Haypiles Stocked in Cool Talus
Haying • Territorial • Industrious
The system is bimodal: MID haying in summer and LOW sheltering that relies on the store.
American Red Squirrel
One Store Instead of Many
Cutting conifer cones green and dropping them before they open • Piling all of them into a single damp midden where the scales stay shut • Defending that one heap year-round with rattle calls and chases
Because the cycle is annual with constant defence, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
American Robin
Worm-Listening Lawn Foraging
Head cocked sideways • Listening for movement below • Pulling
Because the hunting runs continuously through daylight, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
American Toad
Breeding in Ponds That Vanish
Gathering in huge numbers at temporary water • Calling and spawning within days • Producing tadpoles that develop fast enough to leave before it dries
Since the whole cycle runs once a year, it operates as a low-frequency system.
American White Pelican
A Line of Birds Closing
Birds forming a line or arc on the water and swimming forward together • Beating wings and feet to drive fish ahead of them into shallows • Dipping in unison once the fish are concentrated against the shore or against each other
Because the cycle repeats daily, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
American Woodcock
Twilight Soil Sensorium
Still • Cryptic • Grounded
This creates a bimodal pattern: a dominant low-frequency mode of quiet, soil-focused probing and rest, and a necessary mid-frequency mode of repeated crepuscular flights and patrols that keep feeding and breeding working across seasons.
Amur Leopard
Winter-Length Coat and Long Limbs
Insulated • Long-legged • Sparse
Because everything runs slowly across a wide area, it is a low-frequency system.
Andean Cock-of-the-rock
Freed From Every Parental Duty
Feeding on fruit • Returning to the same court • Displaying
Continuous daily feeding and display makes this a mid-frequency system.