It always amazes me how small birds change direction mid-flight and seem to do it frequently, being able to make tons of movements in small urban areas with lots of obstacles.
Same thing with squirrels – they move so fast and seem to be able to make a hundred movements in the time a human could be able to make ten!
So what’s going on here? Do some animals just THINK faster than humans, and not only move faster than them?
In: Biology
Humans react to things in 150-200ms.
Birds have been measured to react in 74ms.
But that’s not because they have superior brains and nerve system, theirs is just simpler so there’s less overhead, which translates to speed.
Flies react in just 21ms for example, that’s why it’s so hard to swat them — what feels fast for you, they could notice/reconsider/react to it 12 times during that. So yes, they “think” faster than humans, time probably feels slower to them.
But, they’re not good at planning and it’s more about super fast instincts, so if you pick your angle right, they’ll still fly straight into the fly swatter.
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