Can Animals Sense When Disasters Are Coming?

Oscar, a cat in a Rhode Island nursing home, accurately predicted the death of more than 50 residents, offering them condolement in their final hours. An octopus named Paul correctly predicted 8 World Cup matches in a row by selecting boxes containing flags of the competing nations. Some seizure-response service dogs are able to predict the onset of a seizure before it begins alerting the private. Medical Alert dogs can detect unsafe blood saccharide levels and sure cancers in humans just past smelling their breath.

Animals have acute senses that allow them to experience things we miss. For instance, humans have five 1000000 scent receptors while Dachshunds have 125 one thousand thousand. Bloodhounds superlative all other dogs with 300 million scent receptors. Many creatures, including horses, cats and snakes, accept a special auxiliary olfactory organ called the Jacobsen's organ that gives them an even richer scent experience.

When it comes to hearing, virtually animals can hear high-pitched sounds that are completely inaudible to united states. Virtually nocturnal mammals tin can see in what humans would consider to be darkness. Whiskers give animals still another fashion to detect subtle changes in the environment.

With these impressive senses, some scientists have wondered if animals may have an early on warning power because they hear infra-sounds produced by earthquakes, volcanoes and storms that are inaudible to humans.

Geophysicists have found that some animals and fish react to minor changes in electromagnetic fields. Mote Marine Laboratory used technology to rails movement of sharks and discovered that they headed out to deeper waters about a day before a major hurricane fabricated landfall.

According to a study in the International Periodical of Public Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers in Italia observed a grouping of toads abandon their pond. V days later an earthquake struck the expanse. The researchers are exploring possible chemical changes to footing water that may occur before earthquakes.

Reports following the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami told of elephants fleeing to high ground and dogs refusing to go down to the beach in the days leading upwardly to the seismic sea wave. Officials at Sri Lanka's Yala National Park reported very few animal deaths from this disaster fifty-fifty though the park is abode to hundreds of elephants, leopards and monkeys. They believe that these animals were able to sense the danger long before humans did.

Ane explanation for unusual changes in fauna behavior that are noticed immediately before humans feel an earthquake is that animals likely feel the smaller, faster P moving ridge from the earthquake while near humans exercise non experience anything until the larger, slower S wave arrives. It'south possible that animals tin sense other even subtler changes to the surround before a natural disaster that nosotros cannot detect.

The United States Geological Survey feels that the verdict is withal out: "Even though there have been documented cases of unusual animal behavior prior to earthquakes, a reproducible connexion betwixt a specific behavior and the occurrence of an earthquake has not been made."

Whether our pets can predict natural disasters or not, those of u.s. who share our lives with them marvel at their rich senses and savour observing their fascinating behaviors.

Bonney Brown is co-executive director of Maddie's Pet Projection in Nevada and president of Humane Network. You can reach Bonney at bbrown@humanenetwork.org.