Response Time
Startle, flight distance, settling.
The response leaves before the assessment arrives. That is the order the system was built in.
Photo: Elkhan Ganiyev / Pexels
A flight animal's timings are not a temperament. The startle happens before any appraisal could, the appraisal arrives afterwards, and the physiological climb-down runs long after the event that caused it has finished.
3 entries
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Startle
A reflex, not a decision — it happens faster than any deliberate response could.
medium read -
Flight distance
The radius at which an animal moves away, and how much it varies by individual and context.
medium read -
Settling
The physiological climb-down after a startle takes far longer than the startle.
short read
Every entry separates what is observed from what is inferred, and says where the science is contested. The full index of entries lists all twenty-two.