Safety and limitations
An app output is never a reason to get closer to an animal.
This page is not a disclaimer bolted on at the end. The rules below are enforced in the product: they change what the engine can output and what the interface will show.
Never
- • Approaching a wild animal on the basis of an app output.
- • Playing any recording to a wild or free-living animal.
- • Playing an animal a recording of a different animal.
- • Playing an animal back a call it made while frightened, hurt or in distress.
- • Provoking, restraining, frightening or manipulating an animal to produce a recording.
- • Approaching nests, dens, offspring or feeding animals.
What the product always states
- Animind estimates how an animal sounds, and compares it against how that animal usually sounds.
- It is not a translation, and no accuracy figure has been established for it — this platform has not yet been tested against enough confirmed outcomes to state one.
- Behaviour varies by species and by individual. Context is essential to interpretation.
- This system cannot replace a veterinarian, ethologist, trainer, conservationist or emergency professional.
How the guardrails work
Guardrails run afterthe interpretation engine and are monotonic: they can raise urgency, add safety guidance and add limitations, but they can never make a result less cautious. That property is what makes them safe to apply to any provider’s output — including a future model we have not built yet.
- Wild species get a minimum-distance figure, an automatic urgency floor, and suppression of any advice involving physical contact or reducing distance.
- Offspring present raises urgency, because adults with young escalate faster and with less warning.
- Reported injury or illness raises urgency to high and attaches the not-a-diagnosis caveat.
- Observer inside the minimum safe distanceputs “withdraw first” above every other line of guidance.
- Restrained animals raise urgency, because an animal that cannot increase distance itself has no way to de-escalate.
The playback rule
The product never suggests playing a recording to an animal, and a text scanner blocks any generated recommendation that would. Playback draws wild animals toward people, alters territorial behaviour, and is a recognised disturbance in field research. The scanner distinguishes advising an action from forbidding it, so this page and the in-product safety guidance are not themselves blocked.
Species that must never be approached
African bush elephant
Do not approach- • Never approach wild elephants. Maintain a minimum of 100 metres and stay in a vehicle where one is available.
- • Ear-spreading, head-shaking and a sudden forward step are warnings. Increase distance immediately.
- • Never position yourself between an adult and a calf, or between a herd and water.
Lion
Do not approach- • Never leave a vehicle near lions and never approach on foot.
- • Do not play recorded roars or calls. Playback draws animals toward people and is prohibited in this product.
- • A crouched posture with a fixed forward stare is a stalking posture. Withdraw immediately.
Rhesus macaque
Do not approach- • Do not feed, approach or make direct eye contact with wild macaques. A direct stare is a threat signal.
- • Do not display food or reflective objects near a troop.
- • Macaques can transmit serious zoonotic disease. Any bite or scratch needs immediate medical attention.
Chimpanzee
Do not approach- • Never approach wild chimpanzees. Maintain the distance required by the local research or park protocol, typically 7–10 metres minimum.
- • Do not eat in view of chimpanzees and never offer food.
- • Chimpanzees are far stronger than humans and disease transmission runs in both directions. Masks are required at most field sites.
Western lowland gorilla
Do not approach- • Maintain the minimum distance set by the park authority, typically 7–10 metres, and never longer than one hour of observation.
- • If a silverback displays, crouch, look down and stay still. Do not run and do not photograph with flash.
- • Do not visit if you have any respiratory illness.
Common bottlenose dolphin
Do not approach- • Do not swim with, chase, feed or attempt to touch wild dolphins. This is illegal in most jurisdictions.
- • Keep vessels at the legally required distance and never position a boat in the path of a travelling group.
- • Never play recorded whistles. Acoustic playback disturbs wild cetaceans and is prohibited in this product.
Grey wolf
Do not approach- • Never approach, follow or feed wolves, and never approach a den or rendezvous site.
- • Do not use howl playback. It draws animals toward people, alters territorial behaviour and is prohibited in this product.
- • Store food securely and keep dogs leashed in wolf range.
Medical and welfare outputs
Some signals overlap with those associated with pain or discomfort. When they do, the product raises an observational flag and says so in those words. It does not diagnose, it does not name a condition, and it does not suggest treatment. If the flag appears, the correct next step is a veterinarian, not another recording.
If you are worried right now
Do not use this product to decide whether an animal needs help. Contact a veterinarian, a licensed wildlife responder, or your local emergency animal service. Animind is a behavioural observation tool and analysis takes time; an animal in distress does not have it.