Can Animal Sense Earthquakes?

[T3l Ca7]

Wild life officials found no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the massive tsunami at Yala Safari Game Lodge close to Yala Reserve Wildlife Park, southeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Wild animals seem to have escaped the Indian Ocean tsunami, adding weight to notions they possess a "sixth sense" for disasters, experts said on Thursday.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast seemingly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.

"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department, said on Wednesday.

The waves washed floodwaters up to 3 km (2 miles) inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka's biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. "There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven," said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behaviour specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.

"There have been no specific studies because you can't really test it in a lab or field setting," he told Reuters.

Other authorities concurred with this assessment.

"Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon, especially birds ... there are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters," said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.

Animals certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.

The notion of an animal "sixth sense" -- or some other mythical power -- is an enduring one which the evidence on Sri Lanka's battered coast is likely to add to.

source: http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/sci....animals.reut/

[T3l Ca7]

The belief that animals can predict earthquakes has been around for centuries.
In 373 B.C., historians recorded that animals, including rats, snakes and weasels, deserted the Greek city of Helice in droves just days before a quake devastated the place.

Accounts of similar animal anticipation of earthquakes have surfaced across the centuries since. Catfish moving violently, chickens that stop laying eggs and bees leaving their hive in a panic have been reported. Countless pet owners claimed to have witnessed their cats and dogs acting strangely before the ground shook—barking or whining for no apparent reason, or showing signs of nervousness and restlessness.

There have also been examples where authorities have forecast successfully a major earthquake, based in part on the observation of the strange antics of animals. For example, in 1975 Chinese officials ordered the evacuation of Haicheng, a city with one million people, just days before a 7.3-magnitude quake. Only a small portion of the population was hurt or killed. If the city had not been evacuated, it is estimated that the number of fatalities and injuries could have exceeded 150,000.

The Haicheng incident is what gave people hope that earthquakes might be predictable, says Michael, and what prompted the animal behavior studies by the USGS.

It was later discovered, though, that a rare series of small tremors, called foreshocks, occurred before the large quake hit the city.

"It was the foreshock sequence that gave (Chinese officials) the solid prediction," Michael said.

Still, the Chinese have continued to look at animal behavior as an aid to earthquake prediction. They have had several notable successes and also a few false alarms, said Rupert Sheldrake, a biologist and author of the books, Dogs that Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and The Sense of Being Stared At.

A reproducible connection between animal behavior and earthquakes could be made, he said, but "as the Chinese have discovered, not all earthquakes cause unusual animal behavior while others do. Only through research could we find out why there might be such differences."

Sheldrake did his own study looking at animal reactions before major tremors, including the Northridge, California, quake in 1994, and the Greek and Turkish quakes in 1999.

In all cases, he said, there were reports of peculiar behavior beforehand, including dogs howling in the night mysteriously, caged birds becoming restless, and nervous cats hiding.

Geologists, however, dismiss these kinds of reports, saying it's "the psychological focusing effect," where people remember strange behaviors only after an earthquake or other catastrophe has taken place. If nothing had happened, they contend, people would not have remembered the strange behavior.


source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...keanimals.html

[T3l Ca7]

So what do you think, do animals possess the acute hearing/sensing that our human have long lost? Or is it just a hoax?

[Nimrook]

they do.. animals can sense these stuff earlier and stronger than humans... i remmeber there was a saying like.. "when something bad happens, animals will go crazy and starts running. That is why humans need to be aware what they are about to experience".

[Jeansi]

It's the only thing they do in life: survive. So they get damn good at it or they die.

So the good ones are the only ones that grow up. It's not surprising that they didn't find dead animals

And besides, most animals are a helluva much faster than any of you.

Third, a lot of animals never go near open sea, they stay in the jungle.

[Melufa]

can I sense a big-titted illiterate cow?

[pv=nrt]

Titties!!!!!!!!

[Due]

they can.

[T3l Ca7]

can I sense a big-titted illiterate cow?

YOU ARE NOT GONNA HAVE ANY E-MILK FROM CYBER BIG-TITTED COW FOR THE ONLINE BREAKFEAST TOMORROW.

hey pv and bye melufa, cya in the indefinite future, hope you have fun outside this forum :lol: (why I am having this feeling, that biitch is going to be back in no time? :fear: )

[StarKitty]

My cat's went mental a while back when there was that small Earthquake here in England ... They woke me up before it happened
I have all this stuff suspended from my ceiling in my room that fell down too ^-^
Yay kitties

Umm.. and what Jeansi said :P

It's the only thing they do in life: survive. So they get damn good at it or they die.

So the good ones are the only ones that grow up. It's not surprising that they didn't find dead animals

And besides, most animals are a helluva much faster than any of you.

[Material Girl]

Hey TelC@t <3 <3 <3

Interesting....

... I'm stuck wondering if animals have the capacity to anticipate man-made disasters, such as a bio-terrorist attack or something similar. I'm thinking domestic animals more specifically. - Like, will my kittycat let me know when it is time to evacuate my city due to a looming terrorist strike??? Or are wild/domestic animals not quite evolved enough to understand the fucked up ways of humans? :wacko:

[PaulOakenfold]

Some specialist was saying on Imus in the morning (you know you're getting older when you're listening to the Don), that the pads on Elephant's feet have almost surreal sense of feeling, and can sense vibrations from the ground miles and miles away, especially something as large as an earthquake. As seen in all wild animals, once animals sense the danger others are feeling, they run away from it. Many eye witnesses noticed their pets trying to flee, and there was only one carcass of a cow found. Just think of it as a stampede.... and that's exactly what it was.

[Richard Creager]

It's because we wear SHOES and lay down CONCRETE on the ground.

[PaulOakenfold]

Not in some parts of Southeast Asia

[T3l Ca7]

It's because we wear SHOES and lay down CONCRETE on the ground.

YOU MEAN YOU CAN SENSE AN EARTHQUAKE FROM MILES AND MILES AWAY IF YOU ARE ON A MOUNT OF MUD ON YOUR BARE FEET?

CONCRETESCHLYRD: ALL THANKS TO YOU, THOUSANDS OF SCHOOL KIDS HAVE DIED FROM THE TSUNAMI. IF YOU DID NOT EXISTE, THEY COULD EASILY RUN AWAY ON THEIR BARE FEET!