There is still so much we don’t know about the wonders of the animal realm. Some animals appear to sense earthquakes or tsunamis before they occur, which has long baffled humans.
Here is what we currently know:
Sheep and goats can be seen leaving the slopes.
Wild animals are frequently reported to leave the region well in advance of an earthquake or volcanic eruption. More than 3,000 years ago, Chinese academics were adamant that animals could foretell natural catastrophes.
They asserted that they could identify red flags of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions by meticulously watching the behaviour of both domestic and wild animals, including fish, reptiles, birds, mammals, and even insects. These indicators might show up hours, days, or even weeks before a calamity occurs, based on their observations.
Between 2012 and 2014, when Mount Etna erupted, and during the 2016 and 2017 earthquakes in central Italy, scientists saw animals responding hours before the catastrophes.
Cows, sheep, and dogs were among the animals that the researchers discovered to be more active than usual in the hours preceding an earthquake, with the animals that were closest to the epicentre responding first.
Sheep and goats, for instance, were observed evacuating the volcano’s slopes prior to an eruption, as they naturally gravitate towards densely vegetated areas, which are often protected from lava flows.
Scientists deduced from their research that animals are able to anticipate natural disasters at least four to six hours in advance.
Hedgehogs and owls
The ability of nocturnal animals to detect earthquake vibrations far sooner than humans has been discovered by Kazakh scientists. In particular, creatures that are normally active at night, such as hedgehogs and owls, frequently become active during the day just prior to an earthquake.
It is believed that this anomalous behaviour is a blatant sign that an earthquake might be approaching. Furthermore, burrowing animals, like some rats, have a tendency to escape before an earthquake, indicating that they are able to detect danger for a long period.
In 1992, shortly before a significant earthquake in Kyrgyzstan’s Illy area, this was very evident. Animals may be able to feel seismic occurrences before they occur, as evidenced by reports that all of the pigeons in the region had vanished just before the tremor struck.
In another instance, after investigating an earthquake in Siberia, researchers saw that certain dogs started acting strangely tense, barking, howling, whining, and rushing around minutes to hours before the earthquake occurred.
A different study examined 729 accounts of odd animal behaviour preceding earthquakes. Animals such as dogs, cats, birds, cows, elephants, toads, and fish were all included in the study.
The majority of these behaviours, according to the researchers, happened in the penultimate hour before an earthquake, with the majority occurring within the 24 hours prior. It’s interesting to note that about 60% of the last-minute accidents happened in the last five minutes.
Although the explanation is yet unknown, it seems that animals behave differently in the moments leading up to an earthquake.
The 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean
Even though enormous waves swept more than three kilometres inland during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, there were no known animal losses in Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park, which is home to elephants, leopards, buffalo, monkeys, and other animals. Surprisingly, it seemed that every resident of the park had barely avoided the destruction.
There is nothing mysterious about it, in my opinion. Animals are unable to predict the future; they only respond to immediate stimuli. It’s crucial to keep in mind, though, that animals’ senses differ from our own. Magnus Enquist, a professor at Stockholm University who teaches theoretical ethology, the study of animal behaviour, claimed that wild animals in particular had extraordinarily keen senses.
It’s possible that many animals, including elephants, recognised the threat before people did. They heard the incoming tsunami or felt the ground tremble. For instance, elephants’ bodies function as enormous resonance chambers, and they can sense vibrations through their feet. Additionally, they use infrasound for long-distance communication, Enquist explained.
Low-frequency sound waves, less than 20 hertz, that are inaudible to humans make up infrasound. Enquist is sceptical that animals knew exactly what to do on instinct, even though he thinks they might have detected danger.
The explanation is straightforward, according to Sverre Sjölander, an ethology professor at Linköping University: “Animals that failed to learn where to go in the event of a disaster eventually perished.”
Before an earthquake, snakes and lizards frequently come out of the ground. According to Sjölander, they are able to identify the minor tremors that frequently precede a large earthquake. Animals watch and respond to one another’s actions, he added. When monkeys witness elephants become angry and fleeing, they will do the same.
Furthermore, most huge animals are able to outrun humans in terms of survival. Subtle changes in the environment that humans miss can also be detected by animals. For example, migratory birds are highly sensitive to changes in the Earth’s magnetic field, and birds react to even little variations in air pressure.
Can a dog detect an impending earthquake?
Animals, especially dogs, have been said for generations to be able to feel earthquakes before they happen. Actually, research has shown that dogs exhibit odd behaviours like howling, barking, and restlessness in the minutes to hours preceding an earthquake.
However, as people tend to recall odd behaviour better when an earthquake happens soon after, it is questioned if animals can actually anticipate earthquakes. In order to overcome this hindsight bias, one study closely observed Italian farm animals.
Many people think that dogs may be able to sense something strange that humans are unable to notice, even if there isn’t any solid scientific proof that they can anticipate earthquakes. It has been proposed that dogs may be responding to undetectable, tiny foreshocks, subterranean acoustic waves, or even environmental changes like air ionisation or earthy odours.
What doubters have to say
Dogs can detect high-frequency seismic waves before humans do, which may explain their behaviour, including heightened fear and activity, according to Dr. Stanley Coren’s research. Smaller dogs seemed to respond more strongly to these sounds than larger dogs, particularly those with prick ears.
Although there isn’t enough proof to draw firm conclusions, the growing number of reports of animal behaviour changes before to earthquakes raises the possibility that animals may have a special awareness of these natural calamities.
Their enhanced senses may be the cause of this, as they are able to perceive sounds and vibrations that humans do not. Dogs may be able to provide an extra layer of early detection in the future by alerting us to approaching disasters.
The concept that animals can sense earthquakes or landslides before observable physical indicators, such ground vibrations, reach monitoring stations is not well supported by science, according to those who doubt the ability of animals to forecast natural disasters.
Since the actual seismic event reached observation stations faster than more damaging events like the subsequent waves, they contend that in the few situations deemed plausible for earthquake predictions, animals were more likely to react to the seismic event itself.
How do you feel? Is it possible for animals to have a “sixth sense” and see things that humans cannot? Or is it merely a fantasy we have? Leave a comment below with your comments.
