Posted on 12/30/2004 1:18:03 AM PST by ambrose
AP Photog Confirms Report on Animals Surviving Tsunami
Published: December 29, 2004 11:00 AM ET
SRI LANKA (AP) Wildlife officials in Sri Lanka expressed surprise Wednesday that they found no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the tsunamis, indicating that animals may have sensed the wave coming and fled to higher ground.
An Associated Press photographer who flew over Sri Lanka's Yala National Park in an air force helicopter saw abundant wildlife, including elephants, buffalo, deer, and not a single animal corpse.
Floodwaters from Sunday's tsunami swept into the park, uprooting trees and toppling cars onto their roofs -- one red car even ended up on top of a huge tree -- but the animals apparently were not harmed and may have sought out high ground, said Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, whose Jetwing Eco Holidays ran a hotel in the park.
"This is very interesting. I am finding bodies of humans, but I have yet to see a dead animal," said Wijeyeratne, whose hotel in the park was destroyed.
"Maybe what we think is true, that animals have a sixth sense," Wijeyeratne said.
Yala, Sri Lanka's largest wildlife reserve, is home to 200 Asian Elephants, crocodile, wild boar, water buffalo and gray langur monkeys. The park also has Asia's highest concentration of leopards. The Yala reserve covers 391 square miles, but only 56 square miles are open to tourists.
The human death toll in Sri Lanka surpassed 21,000. Forty foreigners were among 200 people in Yala who were killed.
How about an animal version of COMMON SENSE? Unlike the humans, the animals didn't stand around at the beach watching the waves come in. At the first hint that something was amiss they ran.
I've read that before a tidal wave hits, the water along the shore drops significantly. It happened decades ago in Alaska, but there teachers brought schoolkids to the beach so they could see the exposed sea bottom and stranded fish. Some folks even walked out to gather fish. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a massive wave hits and many people are killed.
I don't want to sound callous but if I lived along a shoreline, especially on a low lying island, I'd be danged sure to make myself familiar with the tides and waves and the possibility of tsunami.
Kinda like knowing how to hunker down in a spring or winter storm or hurricane. Or what to do when conditions are favorable for a tornado.
It's my opinion lots of these people had >some< advance warning but instead of preparing for it, they vastly understimated what was going to happen and hung around to see the waves come in. Tourists excepted ...sorta.
Why prepare? Someone else will take care of you if problems occur. And if they don't, you can sue them.
I don't think the sea level always drops before a tsunami hits. In the simulations I've seen, the "Thai side" of had a precursor dip, but the "India side" had a surge first. The way the ocean floor moved, water was sucked from the east to create the wave in the west.
Might be nothing more than population dynamics. People crowd the coastal areas. Animal habitat is farther inland. I don't know anything about the parks in question, but it's possible that pattern is repeated there... more human presence on the side of the park closest to the coast.
Animals die in forest fires, which are much more prevalent than earthquakes or tsunamis... why doesn't their "sixth sense" help them in fires?
And how does "running for higher ground" help you during an earthquake? That's only true in coastal areas... when the earthquake is out at sea.
What's the evolutionary scenario for selecting for this behavior? Writing such a "just so story" would really be a stretch. Unless you're dealing with those very few species who evolved specifically for a coastal habitat, I'm skeptical about the existence of any selective pressure to develop a behavior trait that says: "When the ground shakes, head for the hills."
Freggin` animals, they knew all along and they didn`t tell ANYBODY!!! That gets me so mad! They are soooo selfish, it`s always about them them them. I mean all that had to do was tell one officer about the coming tsunami and 10`s of thousands of lives could have been saved, but noooooooo...They split town and don`t tell anybody. Freggin` bums, all they ever do is eat eat eat eat. Everytime I see an animal they are either eating or looking for something to eat, and the only animals I ever see working are horses! What about deer? I`ve never seen a deer with a job ever! How do they pay the rent? They are all welfare leeches and live off the taxpayer dollar yet when those taxpayers are in danger what do they do? They don`t even have the decency to inform them. It`s all about give me food and screw you pal. Everytime I see a deer they don`t even have the decency to look me in the eye when I talk to them, they say screw you and they run away to get food. Ohh this gets me so mad! I`m glad Ted Nugent don`t take no BS from them at all! He shoots them with an arrow and eats them.
no only that, they poop on the rug and slobber all over you, with a stupid look on their face (of course, my wife says i did the same thing when we were courting)
Whay the heck is this such a big deal?? Do journalists really know that little about animals? Yes, animals generally escape forest fires, hurricanes and evidently tsunamis. What non-news.
Ouch! Did your parents offer your wife a rug cleaner to take you?
The worst part of this disaster is yet to come, that will occur when the lawyers start filing their suits. I wonder how long it will be before they sue our government as the main cause of this?
having lived thru' many california earthquakes, some large, some small, i noticed on each occasion that animals around me were alert to the quake before myself.
for example, the norwalk quake, not as big as the later ones, but big:
i was eating a bagel outside a bagel shop next to albertsons, waiting for a co-worker to pick me up to go work on a project.
all of a sudden the crows and black birds took to the sky.
a few moments later, the quake started, and i wanted to get away from the roof line, so i walked across the parking lot--it was difficult:
the asphalt was moving in waves like water. i had trouble keeping my balance until the end of the quake.
You say, "How about an animal version of COMMON SENSE?"
Interesting. Maybe it is like the last election? While humans get caught up in the "nuance" of what may be occuring and trying to make the perfect decision, the animals react from the gut and run for it!
When I heard this, it made me think of the term people have used to describe this as "biblical proportions" where in places in the Old Testament, livestock were spared devastation. You have to wonder what went on that we don't see.
Yea, but dogs can be housebroke. :)
This is good. Those people are going to need fresh meat!
Yes...they see dead people.
If God never intedned us to eat animals, Why then did he make them out of meat?
Kinda like throwing a pail of water into the street. The farther out the water spreads, the less the water becomes until it just plain runs out of energy. Furthermore there were no dilapidated buildings or cars out there to fall on and injure the animals.
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