BrainStuff Classics: Can Animals Predict Natural Disasters?

missing just before an earthquake hits? Or how about in two thousand four when a tsunami hit Southeast Asia and killed more than two hundred thousand people, but almost no wild animals. And did you know that dogs, elephants, antelopes, bats, and even flamingoes fled the scene before the wave hit, even flamingos. Many people assume it's because animals are more attuned to their environment than we are. Others like the United States Geological Survey Agency, say there's no connection between

animal behavior and natural disasters. But if there were, wouldn't it warrant a closer look. Think of the impact it would have if we knew animals could predict dangerous natural events. Now, the majority of researchers looking into this aren't claiming animals have a sixth sense or anything supernatural going on. What they do think is that animals make greater use of their senses than we do. Using these, they react to

environmental signals that we stupid humans just don't notice. Of course, different species have varying sensitivity to these fluctuations, and most evidence is anecdotal. But if animals are aware of natural disasters, here's how they know when troubles are coming. Most likely, animals can hear sounds that we can't, especially the infrasonic low pitched vibrations made by earthquakes, storms, while canoes, avalanches,

and oceans. In some studies, researchers found that these sounds, usually lower than twenty hurts, make humans uneasy and even nauseous. So with their greater spectrum of hearing, it makes sense that animals would perceive these before us as unsettling. If you heard a deep rumbling sound coming at you from a wide angle, what would you do? Did you hang out and make sandwiches? Or would you run for your life?

One study that supports this infrasonic hearing theory happened when Stanley Corn was studying whether dogs suffered from seasonal effective disorder. One day, many of his one hundred and ninety three test dogs suddenly flipped out. Corn could not figure out what was going on until a day later, when he noticed that an earthquake struck nearby at a six point

eight on the Richter scale. After reviewing the results, Corn found that fourteen of the animals had hearing impairments, and these were the dogs that didn't become anxious before the earthquakes. Looking further, he noticed that dogs with floppy ears were less likely to be agitated than those with perky, open ears, So it looks like the strength of their sense of hearing was what attuned the dogs to the earthquakes low tones.

Another theory is that through their sense of touch, animals can feel vibrations through the ground or sense shifts in air or water pressure. Hurricanes are known to decrease such pressures, and scientists have observed that sharks change their behavior when storms cause pressure drops, swimming to deeper waters where they'll be protected. Birds and insects also seek cover when this happens. They're also sensitive to something called ray lay waves. These

are minute vibrations that travel through the Earth's crust. These waves are inaudible and travel ten times the speed of sound, which would explain why some animals since disaster coming sometimes days before it strikes. Now that you've heard the theories, do you think we should make safety decisions based on the behavior of our local animals? Well, China did in nine when they evacuated a city before an earthquake hit after its animals showed signs of anxiety that was estimated

to have saved thousands of lives. Today's episode was written by Christian and produced by Tyler Klang. For more on this and lots of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio is the heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.