I’ve seen so many videos where animals have(seemingly) instant reaction time and can escape fast from predators, how is it possible and why humans don’t have same reaction time?
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Neurologically, some animals are better hardwired to process certain types of information, particularly in regards to fight or flight. Neurons with larger axons and more efficient insulation are capable of passing information through the nervous system faster than others. Their brains tend to be smaller too, taking in less unnecessary information allowing their synapses to pass useful information quickly.
Physiologically, their muscles have evolved to twitch much faster out of necessity to prey/escape, with some of their movements hardwired. Their senses will take in specific information relevant to prey/escape as efficiently as possible. Humans do not need this as much, we have more uses for our senses and muscles.
Edit: to ELI5 it more, imagine a human and an animal made out of springs. The humans springs in its brain are longer so can carry more information, but it takes longer for that information to get from one part of the brain to another, or from the brain to the springs in its arms. There is also a lot of other information in the springs, such as wondering the meaning of life or having a crush on a neighbour. The springs in its arms are also quite long and not needed for fast movements as the humans large brain helps it to escape danger with complex activities such as brick houses.
Meanwhile the animals brain is made of little springs. They can’t carry much information so the information it takes in must be important and help it to survive. This helps it send information quickly to the small springs in its arm, which are capable of bouncing much faster than human springs, so it can do things like swipe at predators quickly. Additionally, some actions like swiping could be hardwired into the animal, so it doesn’t have to think much about swiping, it is instinct.
Animals typically don’t have as many complex thoughts as humans so they’re mostly focused on their wants and needs for survival. Additionally they are more sensitive to specific stimuli such as motions in water or smells. Humans are also not prey animals anymore so we’ve gotten lazy and don’t hone our reflexes as much. You can however improve the reaction time of a person through training.
Like in all of Biology it comes down to evolution.
There’s video of a bobcat on here somewhere about a bobcat who encounters a rattle snake and is quick enough to smack the snake on its head every time the snake strikes until the cold blooded snake is exhausted. The warm blooded cat still has plenty of energy reserves and kills the snake for lunch. The cat has those super fast reflexes because they are required for its survival.
Our human ancestors took a very different path through evolution. We started out as small upright walking apes and evolved to an apex predator in Africa, not with lightning fast reflexes, but with teamwork and relentless pursuit. Humans can run an antelope to near death by hyperthermia and do it in with weapons by teaming up to run it in circles. We don’t need cat like reflexes, we have a very much more robust biological toolkit than that.
We’re apex predators, we don’t really require it.
They have spend millions of years of evolution only surviving if they react quickly.
We’ve spent at least the last few hundred thousand years BEING the thing that hunts them (with traps, intellect, co-operation and tools which negate the need for quick reactions).
Increasingly even our own reactions aren’t needing to be fast to catch those animals (e.g. unlike a cat, which still needs to be fast to catch its prey).
If a human is slower, it won’t go hungry and chances are it still won’t succumb to a predator.
If an animal is slower, it won’t have to worry about catching its next meal ever again.
Hell, we were hunting mammoth to extinction a thousand generations (of many animals) ago.
Animals make up for low points in the intelligence stat by maxing out reflexes and agility. The ones that lack natural defense need to be able to escape danger or they become lunch, and in turn their predators also evolved to be able to keep up with them.
Keep in mind that the human body is actually on the larger side of the scale. There are far, far more animals smaller than humans than larger. Because of this, we see lots of animals that can rapidly accelerate and deccelerate far faster than a human could. Being smaller also means these animals have shorter nerve lengths between brain and muscle and many prey animals are naturally twitchy, ready to run at any moment.
1. Humans have great reaction times when we’ve trained for something. A video gamer can have absolutely unreal reaction times because they’re practiced. Same applies to for example elite soldiers, in scenarios they’ve trained for.
2. In a lot of cases though animals have physical adaptions for specific problems. So when a fly detects an incoming object there is no thought involved as it activates specialized bodyparts designed to launch it into flight as quickly as possible. Or for example a Mantis shrimp, which gives up visual acuity for faster reaction times (well, fast reaction times and being dumb as bricks because brainpower uses up a lot of energy). Mantis shrimp have 12 colour receptors when humans only have 3, but while humans can see thousands of colours a mantis shrimp can see…12. Because to maximize reaction times they don’t do anything with those 12 inputs, just pure Input->Output.
Cats have ridiculously fast reaction times but play with one and you’ll find you can often outwit it by predicting it’s next move.
A quick reaction doesn’t mean the correct reaction. Have you ever seen a squirrel try to dodge a car. They move left and right so much they basically stay in place.
They spend their whole lives trying to do 2 things: eat, and mate. Every ounce of energy, every opportunity, every chance…that’s it. Humans no longer have to do that, so we don’t need such quick reflexes or reaction times. When you want a meal, you don’t have to chase it, hunt it, or surprise it.
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