Once the Matador aggressively whips the Muleta, the bull’s brain will associate that sudden movement with danger. As the bull scans its surroundings, its brain will register that it’s not in a calm and safe environment. The bull is surrounded by thousands of people in the audience shouting and creating a lot of noise, causing the bull to become irritated and confused. Now I want you to imagine the bull in this situation…

FLIGHT – escape from the threat to safety.

FIGHT – attack and deal with the threat.

Your body will then be prepared to either:

Sweating – cools down the body so it doesn’t overheat.

Dilated Pupils – lets more light into the eyes to allow better vision of the surroundings.

Increased Heart Rate and Breathing Rate – provides the body with more oxygen and energy so muscles can become rapidly activated.

In the Fight or Flight response, the hormone adrenaline is released from the adrenal gland, in order to prepare the body for survival. Hormones are small chemical messengers which travel through the blood system to different parts of the body to tell them what to do. If you are in danger, your brain will send signals to your glands to release certain hormones. Your brain will assess the situation and decide whether or not you are really in danger.

The Fight or Flight response (also known as the ‘stress’ response) is a reaction that happens in response to a situation where you feel as if you’re in danger or are going to be harmed. This causes the bull’s ‘Fight or Flight’ response to become activated. It is actually the aggressive whipping of the Muleta by the Matador which irritates the bull.

In fact, bulls are actually colour-blind to the colour red! The colour red is commonly associated with anger and aggressiveness, so it’s a popular belief that a Muleta enrages the bull simply because of its red colour – but is this true? This causes the bull to angrily respond and charge at the Matador. This saying is based on the practice of bullfighting, which involves a Matador (the bullfighter) waving a Muleta (a red cape) in front of a bull. Have you ever heard of the saying “like a red rag to a bull”? It means to be something that causes anger or annoyance.

Raging bull in color