Frequency signatures: Short-eared Owl to Sitatunga

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 1,873–1,896.

Short-eared Owl

MID

Breeding Sized to the Vole Year

Settled • Laying large • Peak year

That makes it an adaptive system: the breeding state is set by the food supply rather than by the calendar.

Short-finned Pilot Whale

LOW

Deep Squid Sprints From a Bonded Pod

Logging • Cohesive • Social

The system is bimodal: LOW cohesive surface rest and HIGH deep sprint dives.

Shortfin Mako

HIGH

Heat-Retained Sprint Muscle

Warm • Pursuing • Expensive

Because the architecture is built and paid for at a high rate all the time, it is a high-frequency system.

Siamang

MID

Paired Throat-Sac Broadcast

Daily • Coordinated • Territorial

Because the system runs on a repeated daily broadcast and a coordinated route rather than on reserves or bursts, it is a mid-frequency system.

Siamese Algae Eater

MID

Lip-Scraped Biofilm Grazing

Working the surface • Rasping the film • Moving to the next stone

Because that rasping is repetitive, unhurried and effectively constant, it operates as a mid-frequency system.

Siamese Crocodile

LOW

Vegetation Mound Nest Incubation

Mounded • Attended • Seasonal

Because everything runs on a long seasonal cycle, it is a low-frequency system.

Siamese Fighting Fish

MID

Operculum-Flared Size Display

Breathing at the surface • Flaring the gill covers • Tending a raft of bubbles

Because the breathing, guarding and displaying run continuously, it operates as a mid-frequency system.

Siberian Crane

MID

Water-Only Feeding Across a Continent

Wetland-bound • Migratory • Seasonal

Because the annual cycle runs steadily with two long movements, it is a mid-frequency system.

Siberian Ibex

MID

Summer Meadows, Winter on Wind-Scoured Rock

Grazing • Alpine • Fattening

That makes it a phase-change system: a summer of alpine grazing and a winter of endurance on wind-cleared rock.

Siberian Musk Deer

LOW

Tusked Display Without Antlers

Lichen-fed • Tusked • Solitary

Because intake is poor and the pace is unvarying, it is a low-frequency system.

Siberian Sturgeon

LOW

A Sturgeon Without the Sea

Completing the entire life cycle within one river system rather than running to the sea • Migrating long distances upstream and downstream inside the same catchment • Depending on that river's gravels, depth and flow for every stage from egg to adult

Because the cycle spans years, it operates as a low-frequency system.

Sidewinder

LOW

Two Points of Contact With Hot Sand

Buried • Coiled • Heat-sensing

That makes it a bimodal system: prolonged buried waiting and a brief, entirely lateral progression.

Signature Spider

LOW

A Zigzag Nobody Can Explain

Bands of dense white silk laid in a zigzag across the centre of an otherwise near-invisible orb web • That structure varying between individuals, days and conditions rather than being fixed • Several competing explanations supported in different studies, with no single function established across all cases

Because the web is rebuilt over days, it operates as a low-frequency system.

Sika Deer

LOW

Slipping Away Rather Than Running

Lying up • Silent • Unseen

That makes it a bimodal system: prolonged concealment and a quiet, deliberate withdrawal.

Silky Anteater

LOW

Hook-and-Tail Anchor

Slow • Anchored • Cheap

Because every part of the body is arranged to hold on and spend as little as possible, this is a low-frequency system.

Silky Carpenter Ant

MID

Workers Built to Different Scales

Workers emerging across a continuous range of sizes from small to very large within one colony • Small individuals handling brood, nest work and tasks requiring fine manipulation • Large individuals with disproportionately enlarged heads and jaws handling defence, cutting and carrying, so the same colony covers jobs needing opposite body sizes

Because the colony works continuously, it operates as a mid-frequency system.

Silver Argiope

LOW

Zigzag Banner at the Hub

Waiting • Hub-bound • Signposted

That makes it a bimodal system: long waiting at the hub and explosive wrapping or shaking.

Silver Arowana

LOW

Leaving the Water to Take the Branch

Cruising • Surface-set • Upturned

That makes it a bimodal system: surface cruising and a brief committed launch out of the water entirely.

Silver Dollar Fish

MID

A Piranha Built for Plants

Broad flat teeth adapted for shearing leaves rather than flesh • Shoaling in numbers through flooded forest and vegetated river margins • Feeding on submerged plants, fallen leaves and fruit taken directly from the water column

Because shoaling is continuous, it operates as a mid-frequency system.

Silver Pheasant

LOW

White Feathers Ruled in Black

Walking forest floor and displaying on the ground rather than in the air • Carrying upperparts of white feathers each ruled with fine black lines • Producing a pattern that reads as bright white from a distance and as fine detail up close

Since the cycle runs annually, it operates as a low-frequency system.

Silverfish

LOW

Crevice-Night Foraging Body

Hidden • Repetitive • Night-led

Because their whole life strategy is to keep a low profile while quietly repeating the same crack-to-food-to-crack pattern across seasons, this is a single-mode, low-frequency system built on hidden persistence rather than bursts or phase shifts.