[NYer]

I have a friend who is native born Italian. He has often spoken of similar animal behavior in Italy just prior to an earthquake. Your thoughts?

[ASA Vet]

Wouldn't be surprised. The Chinese also believe Rhino horn and Tiger pecker is Viagra.

[coloradan]

Another theory holds that other animals can sense weak shocks before an earthquake that are imperceptible to humans.

Imperceptible to human senses, perhaps, but not imperceptible to human technology.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’d believe it. One of my dogs knew when a thunderstorm was coming; she hated them. She’d be under the bed long before the storm showed up on local radar.

[Biggirl]

Would not suprise me because animals have a much more fine tune sense of detecting movements in the earth.

[Biggirl]

Also in CA from what I have heard people report in the days and weeks before an earthquake that their pets go missing and put ads and posters up.

[Izzy Dunne]

That animals do sense such things is not in doubt, having been well recorded.

That humans can detect those signs and use them to good effect is still doubtful.

A single false alarm will cast doubt on the whole idea. If a government evacuates a town because the chickens went crazy, and then nothing happens, the government has lost all credibility on the subject.

Also see hurricane forecasting.

[edpc]

Are the cats and dogs in China acting odd because they sense a natural disaster or is it due to the fact they’re about to become dinner?

[varyouga]

If you ever see lots of rats and other animals running full speed somewhere, you better follow them. Something BIG is coming.

This happened during the Tsunami. The animals started running for the hills just before the waves hit.

[BunnySlippers]

Here is a video taken DURING the quake:

http://video.ap.org/v/Legacy.aspx?partner=en-ap&g=eb8528ef-0f58-4153-8da9-4ea26bbb5cb6&t=m316&p=ENAPworld_ENAPworld&f=7219&;

[WarToad]

I lived in Japan for three years and my neighbor swore his dog anticipated eathquakes hours ahead of time. He’d get jittery and nervous, start whining. I took it with a grain of salt but as the years passed I noticed his dog always DID get whiney and skittish before a quake.

So personally, I think there is something to it. Perhaps they hear the very low frequency sounds of goans and moans of a fault getting ready to snap. I dunno. It is interesting though.

[GovernmentShrinker]

It’s well-established fact that unusual behavior in animals precedes earthquakes. It just isn’t always possible to rule out something other than an earthquake that’s triggering unusual animal behavior, since they’re able to detect lots of things that we can’t. The sudden drop in the pond’s water level should have been a big clue, though. Something has to be going on underground for that to happen.

[weegee]

Can animals “predict” an earthquake? No. But it seems that they can sense some early signals that are not being detected by people.

[Biggirl]

Did some research online using Ask.com and came upon this PDF about lost pets and earthquakes.

http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J0617.pdf

[Excellence]

I saw a report on an animal channel about how elephants communicate to each other the presence of danger (I think it was tiger) without that source of danger being aware of the communication. It turned out the elephants made an extremely low-frequency sound that was below the hearing range of the source of danger. If elephants can hear low frequency sound, it make sense that they would hear the low frequency sound of an earthquake, interpret that sound as a warning to the presence of danger, and act accordingly.

[Biblebelter]

My cat sleeps on my bed. It was acting very strangely an hour or two before the quake hit. When the quake hit, I thought it was my 14 lb cat jumping on my bed from the dresser which could shake my bed up. I got up and turned on the lights and the cat looked very scared. But I went around the house checking doors and windows thinking the cat was upset because there was a prowler, which I have never had. I had no idea it was an earthquake until I got on Free Republic this morning. The odd thing is, the Egyptians held cats in high regards because they felt the cats had some kind of earthquake ESP. I have to think that my cat may have sensed the quake before it hit.

247 posted on Friday, April 18, 2008 10:43:43 by Biblebelter (Barry, let your Uncle Jeremiah speak publicly, so he can set the record straight himself.) [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 244 | View Replies | Report Abuse]

This is what I posted after last month's earthquake in the Midwest.

[airborne]

I believe that animals are much more sensitive to seismic activity. Among other things.

No proof. I just believe it to be true.

[aposiopetic]

Even the mainstream media has chimed in, with an article in Tuesday's China Daily newspaper questioning why the government did not predict the earthquake.

Here the drive-by media would say "Bush's fault," so I guess there they have to say "Wen's fault."

[Screaming_Gerbil]

In fact, seismologists say, it is nearly impossible to predict when and where an earthquake will strike...

"...But so far, no reliable way has been found to use animals to predict earthquakes, said Roger Musson, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey."

But that has not stopped a torrent of online discussion. Even the mainstream media has chimed in, with an article in Tuesday's China Daily newspaper questioning why the government did not predict the earthquake.

Online commentators say the first sign came about three weeks ago, when large amounts of water suddenly disappeared from a pond in Enshi city in Hubei province...

Then, three days before the earthquake, thousands of toads roamed the streets of Mianzhu...

The day of the earthquake, zebras were banging their heads against a door at the zoo in Wuhan... Elephants swung their trunks wildly, almost hitting a staff member. The 20 lions and tigers, which normally would be asleep at midday, were walking around...

Five minutes before the quake hit, dozens of peacocks started screeching...

Well, at least now someone has an idea of what to look for.

First sign is water table drops a few weeks ahead of time. Then be on the lookout for an unusual amount of toads outside of their ponds, and by the time the animals in the zoo start acting weird you better be ready to grab your "grab and go kit" and the children and get to someplace safer.

Maybe best not wait until the peacocks start screeching...