Frequency signatures: Margay to Medium Ground Finch
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 1,345–1,368.
Margay
Reversible-Ankle Canopy Hunt
Climbing • Hunting • Nightly
Because the system converts continuous three-dimensional movement into steady returns, it is a mid-frequency system.
Marginated Tortoise
Flared Shell on a Two-Season Year
Basking • Grazing • Seasonal
That makes it a bimodal system: an active season of basking and grazing and a long winter dormancy.
Marine Iguana
Thermal-Budget Grazing Dive
Diving • Grazing • Timed
Because two different operating states alternate under a hard physical threshold, this is a bimodal system.
Markhor
Interlocking Spiral Horns
Climbing • Browsing • Contesting
Because the system runs on a steady daily routine with regular structured contests, it is a mid-frequency system.
Marmalade Hoverfly
Billions on a Seasonal Wind
Migrating • Visiting • Returning
Sustained long-range movement and constant flower work make this a mid-frequency system.
Marsh Deer
A Membrane Between the Hooves
Wading • Webbed • Solitary
That makes it a low-frequency system: slow, deliberate movement made possible by the foot rather than by strength.
Marsh Frog
Paired Sacs Amplifying a Chorus
Basking • Waiting • Watchful
That makes it a bimodal system: a quiet waiting baseline and an intense collective broadcast.
Marsh Mongoose
Bare Hands in the Mud
Feeling • Unwebbed • Riverbank
That makes it a mid-frequency system: steady, tactile and confined to a boundary.
Marsh Tit
A Territory Held All Year
Holding one territory with the same mate for life • Knowing every cache site and cavity within it • Refusing to leave even in the hardest winter
Since the cycle runs annually, it operates as a low-frequency system.
Martial Eagle
High-Soar Stoop Strike
Soaring • Scanning • Hours
Because a very cheap high search funds rare committed strikes, this is a bimodal system.
Marvellous Spatuletail
Pendulum Tail Display Engine
Forage • Maintain • Recover
Because its life alternates between a steady operational rhythm that funds the ornament and short, expensive bursts of controlled display, the system is best understood as bimodal with a mid-frequency baseline and high-frequency display mode.
Mary River Turtle
Cloacal Gill Respiration
Submerged • Absorbing • Days
Because everything runs at a very low rate, it is a low-frequency system.
Masked Lovebird
Bill-Carried Domed Cavity Nest
Building • Enclosed • Lasting
Because effort goes slowly into one durable structure that the birds then live inside, rather than into quick bursts or a daily circuit, the operating rhythm is low-frequency.
Masked Owl
One Ear Higher Than the Other
Perched • Facing the ground • Listening
That is a bimodal system.
Mata Mata
Leaf-Fringed Suction Strike
Debris • Motionless • Hours
Because near-total stillness supports one instantaneous capture, this is a bimodal system.
Matschie's Tree Kangaroo
Independent Hindlimb Climbing
Climbing • Leaf-fed • Sedentary
Because intake and movement both run slowly, it is a low-frequency system.
May Beetle
Multi-Year Brood Synchrony
Underground • Chewing roots • Counting out the years
Because years of hidden low-cost accumulation are discharged into one brief synchronised flight, this is a bimodal system.
Meadow Froghopper
Foam-Cushioned Jump Engine
Foam • Shelter • Setup
The system therefore runs on a low-frequency shelter-and-feed mode anchored in foam or stillness, punctuated by high-frequency bursts of jump power when timing and danger demand it, making this a bimodal low-and-high system.
Meadow Vole
Grass Runway Burrow-Network
Sheltered • Stored • Hidden
This creates a bimodal pattern: a low-frequency, burrow-centered reserve mode anchored in cover and stores, and a mid-frequency, runway-based operating mode that repeats short, timed movements rather than continuous roaming.
Mealworm Beetle
Bacteria That Break Down Plastic
Larvae chewing polystyrene and passing it into the gut • Gut bacteria depolymerising the long carbon chains rather than the insect itself digesting them • Part of the carbon leaving as carbon dioxide and part incorporated into the larva, with the rest excreted as altered fragments
Because the process runs over weeks, it operates as a low-frequency system.
Medicinal Leech
A Bite That Stops Clotting
Attaching with a rear sucker and cutting a Y-shaped incision with three jaws • Secreting hirudin and anaesthetic into the wound • Taking several times its own weight and digesting it over months
Since feeds are months apart, it operates as a low-frequency system.
Mediterranean Feather Star
Multiuse Feathered Fan
Anchored • Sheltered • Waiting
Because its structure supports a clear alternation between low-expenditure anchoring and repeated moderate-effort feeding and repositioning, the Mediterranean feather star operates as a bimodal system with a low baseline and a mid-frequency active mode.
Mediterranean House Gecko
Dry-Adhesion Wall Foraging
Holding the wall • Watching the light • Short dashes
Because that rhythm is continuous and cheap through the dark hours, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
Medium Ground Finch
Beak Depth Tested by Drought
Breeding • Ground-foraging • Abundant
Because the system switches between easy wet-season breeding and a lean, selective dry season, it is a phase-change system.