Can Animals Predict Disaster?

By Dr Kirti Dua
The belief that animals can predict earthquakes has been around for centuries. We’ve all heard them: the tales of dogs barking before the big earthquake hit; wildlife behaving strangely before the big hurricane; earthworms pouring out of the ground just before the big flood strikes. The million dollar question is whether they are tall tales or true? Probably a little bit of both.

Many studies have indicated that some animals can sense major changes in the weather. Worms, for instance, are known to flee rising groundwater. Birds are known to be sensitive to air pressure changes, and often hunker down before a big storm. And in Florida, researchers studying tagged sharks say they flee to deeper water just before a big hurricane arrives. They also may be sensing the air and water pressure changes caused by the big storm.

Researchers are skeptical that our puppy can give a cue that big quake is coming. They are also skeptical that any special “sixth sense” helped animals survive the great tsunami that swept the Indian Ocean in 2004. After the wave, people reported seeing animals fleeing to forests on high ground and finding few bodies of dead animals. It may also be assumed that many animals may have survived simply because they are strong swimmers or able to scamper up trees.

But precisely what animals sense, if they feel anything at all, is a mystery. One theory is that wild and domestic creatures feel the Earth vibrate before humans. Other ideas suggest they detect electrical changes in the air or gas released from the Earth. However it is believed that animals can pick up the “infrasonic” sound pulses created by storms and earthquakes, and get a head start on fleeing to safety. When things change, they may not understand why it’s happening, but the change itself may trigger some instinct to move to an area that is safer for them.

Earthquakes are a sudden phenomenon. Seismologists have no way of knowing exactly when or where the next one will hit. One of the world's most earthquake-prone countries is Japan, where researchers have studied animals in hopes of discovering what they hear or feel before the Earth shakes in order to use that sense as a prediction tool. But so far they have not succeeded. But while animals may one day be a helpful early warning system, for the earthquake forecasting, we would still need to have geophysical measurements in combination with animal measurements."

-Writer is incharge Wild life Centre and Prof Veterinary Medicine, GADVASU, Ludhiana