Another example other than birds are squirrels, for example. To clarify what I mean: If you make a noise around them, these animals will suddenly, and very quickly, turn their head towards you. Then, after a couple of seconds, they will turn it away again, in the same sudden, unsmooth way. How come they can’t make smooth movements, and instead just move like a robot?
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There are two things happening here.
One the one hand, they *are* moving smoothly, just very, very fast. Humans perceive motion quite slowly compared to, say, a hummingbird. What looks jerky to you is butter-smooth to a sparrow. Birds just operate at a higher level.
On the other hand, the whole move-and-stop thing makes sense when you think about how predators spot prey, which has a lot to do with motion. Most prey animals are camouflaged and blend in nearly perfectly with their surroundings. You only see them when they move and break the illusion. Fast movements decrease the amount of time they’re “exposed” by limiting the chances that a predator will notice them. You see this kind of thing with rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels, etc.
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