Frequency signatures: Bornean Orangutan to Brown Pelican
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 313–336.
Bornean Orangutan
Nightly Rebuilt Springy Platform
Building • Solitary • Every night
Because the whole system runs at a very low rate, it is a low-frequency system.
Bornean Pygmy Elephant
Assumed Introduced, Actually Ancient
Walking river valleys • Opening paths • Remembering routes for decades
This is a low-frequency system.
Bornean Slow Loris
Venom Mixed From Arm Gland and Saliva
Creeping • Nocturnal • Gripping
That makes it a bimodal system: quiet deliberate climbing backed by a rare, costly bite.
Bowfin
Swamp Lung Ambush Frame
Hidden • Air-gulping • Patient
This architecture—air breathing that supports long, low-cost hiding punctuated by short, explosive ambush—makes the bowfin a bimodal system with a dominant low-frequency survival mode and a high-frequency capture burst.
Bowhead Whale
Blubber-Banked Ice Breaker
Insulated • Skimming • Century-scale
Because everything is arranged around insulation, endurance and very slow continuous intake, it is a low-frequency system.
Bowmouth Guitarfish
Ray Head on Shark Body
Bottom-working • Shark-tailed • Steady
Because feeding and moving both run at a steady low rate, it is a low-frequency system.
Boxer Crab
Anemones Split to Make Two
Holding • Waving • Maintaining
Minimal movement and constant upkeep make this a single low-frequency system.
Brahminy Kite
Making Others Drop Catches
Soaring low over harbours, estuaries and fishing grounds watching other birds rather than the water • Harrying terns, gulls and other raptors until they release or drop what they are carrying • Catching the dropped item in the air or taking it from the surface before the owner recovers it
Because chases recur through the day, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
Brazilian Lava Lizard
Body Heat Managed by Moving
Moving between sun and shade many times an hour • Changing posture and orientation to the sun to control heat gain • Holding body temperature within a narrow band by position alone
Since the shuttling recurs constantly, it operates as a high-frequency system.
Brazilian Treehopper
Orb-tower Disguise Frame
Constant • Structural • Misdirecting
Because the structure is always present and passively working whenever anything looks at the insect, its system is a steady, mid-frequency pattern: a constant architectural rewrite of how observers parse its form rather than a rare burst or deep reserve play.
Brazilian Wandering Spider
Nocturnal Leaf-Litter Stalker
Roaming • Probing • Grounded
The spider’s survival depends on both modes working together — systematic ground search to find opportunities, then brief explosive attacks to convert them — which makes it a bimodal system with a mid-frequency roaming baseline and a high-frequency strike burst layered on top.
Brill
Matching the Bottom in Minutes
Settling onto a new substrate and comparing it against the eyes' input • Redistributing pigment within chromatophores under nervous control • Reproducing the tone, contrast and coarseness of the ground within minutes
Since matching happens over minutes, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
Brimstone Butterfly
Overwintering as an Adult
Flying from early spring through summer • Feeding at flowers and searching for buckthorn to lay on • Living as an active adult for weeks at a time
Applying the structural test, these are two physiologies, making it a bimodal system.
Bristle-tail Filefish
Fin-Twitch Leaf Mimicry
Rhythmic • Drifting • Veiled
Because its safety, feeding and recovery all rely on the same ongoing, low-amplitude motion that tracks the reef’s rhythm, this is a mid-frequency system built on continuous, believable drift rather than long stillness or sudden bursts.
Bristlenose Pleco
Fake Larvae on the Face
Males developing branched fleshy tentacles across the snout that resemble a mass of wriggling larvae • Occupying and defending a cave or crevice into which a female is invited to lay • The male remaining alone in the cave fanning and guarding the eggs until they hatch and the fry disperse
Because the cycle runs over weeks, it operates as a low-frequency system.
Broad-bodied Chaser
Flying to Where Prey Goes
Watching from a perch with an upward-facing eye region • Launching on an intercept course • Taking the prey from beneath in flight
Since attacks recur within seconds, it operates as a high-frequency system.
Brolga
Dancing and Duetting to Hold a Pair
Digging • Wading • Flocking
That makes it a bimodal system: steady wetland foraging punctuated by short, intense displays.
Bronze Ground Beetle
Digesting Prey Outside the Body
Seizing a slug or caterpillar with curved mandibles • Regurgitating digestive fluid onto it • Sucking up the liquefied tissue and leaving the rest
Since feeding bouts recur nightly, it operates as a mid-frequency system.
Bronze-winged Jacana
One Female Holding Several Males
Spread • Defended • Polyandrous
That makes it a mid-frequency system: steady surface feeding within an inverted and actively defended breeding structure.
Brown Anole
A Throat Fan Deployed Instantly
Holding a low perch and watching • Snapping the dewlap open on a hinged cartilage • Folding it away again immediately
Since displays repeat within minutes, it operates as a high-frequency system.
Brown Bear
A Winter That Recycles Waste
Digging, fishing and grazing across a huge range • Converting everything into fat • Feeding almost continuously before winter
Since the two regimes alternate once a year, this runs as a bimodal system with a low-frequency winter state.
Brown Crab
Growth by Discarding the Shell
Feeding on molluscs and crustaceans with heavy black-tipped claws • Buried in sediment or wedged into rock by day • Carrying a hard shell that grows not at all
Applying the structural test, these are two different states, making this a bimodal system.
Brown Greater Galago
Night Gum-Forager With Shared Day Beds
Sleeping • Grouped • Hidden
That makes it a bimodal system: daytime rest in shared sleeping sites and solitary nocturnal foraging for gum, fruit and insects.
Brown Pelican
Air Sacs Under the Skin
Cruising • Gliding • Scanning
That makes it a bimodal system: economical travel and a violent committed strike.