Hightened Senses / predatory instincts

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My wife commented the other day that I seem to have very strong "predatory" instincts. I hear better than is considered normal, see better, smell subtleties and nuances that others miss, and I never ever stop looking around, always keeping my head and eyes moving to keep track of where everything or everyone I am concerned with is. She has compared me to a herding dog ( the herding behavior is just modified predatory instincts, adapted by man to serve them) or a secret service protective detail type from the movies....

I understand heightened senses are not unusual amongst Aspies however, has anyone else ever had cause to think of themselves in this way?

Anyone ever commented on it to you?

Ever since she said it to me, I am more aware of what I am doing, however, I understand that this is just part of me, and who I am and I really don't want to change.

Yes, I feel its the reason I think of myself as a cat. I'm not only too alert, I'm also too analytical about it all. And sometimes (though rarely!) I do "pounce," but typically only when threatened. I'm inclined to be highly territorial, and those who note a relatively phlegmatic base state are shocked by my speed and ferocity at those moments, but in my mind, I'm a big cat taking a stand.

Yeah im like that, I probably look paranoid or even in somewhat of a trance to most people. A lot of times, people will ask me "what are you looking at?" or "what are you looking for?", to which I never have a short enough answer it seems. I always feel compelled to tell them some arbitrary fact about something that caught my eye.

Yeah, I love foraging for food and stuff. I feel very alive when I'm hunting mushrooms or something. Never hunted live prey, but I'm sure I'd enjoy it. I definitely have a talent in perception.

Part of my issue is that I am too alert, I can almost tell when someone is not acting in a wholesome manner, especially when my daughter is near.

There was a guy at the park who was walking around with his puppy, talking to all the little girls there. I was watching my daughter from the car (it has highly tinted windows and I despise the sun) yet something about the way he carried himself just put me on edge, he the fact that he took off when I walked over and checked in on my kiddo just made me even more suspicious about his intentions. (although I am not exactly a subtle individual, I am somewhere around 5' 10" and 285, built like a Rugby Prop, so I am a little physically imposing...

But there was just something that made me react and I can't point the finger anywhere other than instincts.

"Predatory senses," I'd say, but not "predatory instinct." I seem to completely lack such an instinct. I have no interest in taking advantage of the weak or someone at a weak moment, which is how I interpret "predatory instinct."

Also looking around and being hyper vigilant is more the behavior of prey. The predators focus and don't take their eyes off their target. And they have less need to look out for others preying on them (depending on where they are in the food chain) compared to grazing/herbivorous/whatever animals.

Well said, however, I have seen wolves hunt in person, watched them adapt as they stalk an Elk herd. I have also worked a farm and watched dogs herd and protect a flock from wolves....I feel a certain empathy with the wolf as well as the dogs.

No, I am definitely on the hyper vigilant side of things. Always looking out for where the next dangerous thing is going to come from.

I actually just watched a lecture that talked about the heuristics of intuition, real fascinating stuff if you're into that kind of thing (pretty sure it falls under the category of Cognitive psychology). http://fora.tv/2008/02/08/Intelligence_ ... nconscious

Very interesting, Watching several of the chapters now.

(Yes, I tend to watch 3-5 movies at a time, while raiding in World of Warcraft and listen to music and can process just fine, one of the perks of my flavor of AS)

I wish I could do that, at least occasionally. I can only have one thing going on at once that I can pay attention to.

Yea, but put me in a crowded public area that is not a concert...and I can not focus enough to walk.

To each their own.

I think it is possible for people on the spectrum to be more able to "tune-in" to the environment (in a "become one with" sort of sense), which does seem more like how animals perceive/relate do it. Sort of a wordless-instinctual-perceptual kind of state. (Does seem like there's on average a greater sense of understanding animals, in general, too.)

I would agree with you even further. This is how I have viewed things for a good while. Animals, while unpredictable, by nature, are more predictable that some people I encounter. By looking at the small details, how a dog's tail is, how their ears move, they give off far more social queues than people do, and you can avoid some unpleasantness. Same with other animals, snakes and the like, you can see when they are getting ready to do things such as strike or seek out prey by watching them carefully and because they are more instinctual with behaviors that are at least semi-predictable once you learn the signs to look for.

All in all, I have learned a lot from animal behavior, and while I have a very very hard time with people still, I see some of the overall posture changes depending on mood or feeling, as long as I am not part of the interaction that is causing the posture change. Funny how that works...Easier to be on the outside looking in, than part of the interaction.

Don't forget about how their breathing shifts. I feel closer to animals than to people myself. Yet people ask me why I eat meat still, I like to take part in nature as well as observe it, you know?

I am always watching and observing people.If I ever feel attracted to a woman or if it seems like a woman is attracted to me I always watch them to see what they are like with other people before deciding if they really seem interesting to me or not and usually I lose interest because they seem just like everyone else and I am looking for someone different as far as mates go.