Can Animals Predict Natural Disasters?

Do animals have a sixth sense that can detect earthquakes and tsunamis? Or do they just make better use of their other senses than humans?

Have you heard about how pets sometimes go missing just before an earthquake hits? Or how about in 2004, when a tsunami hit southeast Asia and killed more than 200,000 people... but almost no wild animals? Did you know that dogs, elephants, antelopes, bats and even flamingos fled the scene before the wave hit?

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?

Now the majority of researchers looking into this aren't claiming animals have a sixth sense or anything supernatural going on. What they think is that animals make greater use of their senses than we do. Using these, they react to environmental signals that we stupid humans don't even notice.

Most likely, animals can hear sounds that we can't, especially the infrasonic, low-pitched vibrations made by earthquakes, storms, volcanoes, avalanches and oceans. 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? Hang out making sandwiches? Or run for your life?

One study that supports this infrasonic hearing theory happened when Stanley Coren was studying whether dogs suffered from seasonal affective disorder. One day many of his 193 test dogs suddenly became agitated. Coren couldn't figure out what was going on until he noticed that a day later an earthquake struck nearby at a 6.8 on the richter scale.

Here's where it gets crazy. After reviewing the results, Coren found that 14 of the animals had hearing impairments and these were the dogs that didn’t become anxious before the earthquake.

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 earthquake's 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.

Now that you’ve heard the theories, do you think we should make safety decisions based on the behavior of our local animals? China did in 1975, when they evacuated a city before an earthquake hit after its animals showed signs of high anxiety. It’s estimated they saved thousands of lives.

SOURCES:

Kaplan M. Beastly powers. New Scientist [serial online]. February 17, 2007;193(2591):34. Available from: Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 10, 2014.

[thesomething]

My dog has panic fear of thunder storms. She starts being nervous up to 3 hours before the storm starts. Every single time. She wants everybody to go inside our house, showing this by pushing us towards the front door and after we are inside not letting us out. I am serious.

[savagegardenrox]

Before the recent Napa Earthquake in California our cat that sleeps on my father's chest suddenly jumped off the bed and hid. This is a giant, lazy cat. He doesn't wake up or even move for just anything.

Less than two minutes later the biggest Earthquake in Northern California since 1989 hit.

[bellapalmer]

Yeah, my cat started meowing in a different way and jumped on top of my shoulders and meowed right in my ear. About 10 seconds later a 5.0 hit my town. Animals deff do have better senses than us. It's that simple

[EvixtheScrub]

Last time an earthquake happened that was about 2.8 or something in California, my cat started to scratch me a lot more and afterwards stopped.

[garrettgalasso]

My dogs flip out any time they hear someone outside... I don't think they'd be very useful in predicting natural disasters. 

[gimmelmom]

my cat gets weird before rainstorms. He's more accurate than the weatherman.

[catherinewesley]

Came across your channel. I breed Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers here in Southern Ontario Canada. I put my dogs out in the backyard around 5 a.m. Feb 1, 2019. The strangest thing was all 8 of them ran out and stopped and looked up and never moved for almost 2 to 3 minutes. I could not see anything. I've never seen all of them do this all at the same time. Weird.

[BrainStuffShow]

Do animals have a sixth sense that can detect earthquakes and tsunamis? Or do they just make better use of their other senses than humans?

[thesearchforhappiness]

I remembered when the tsunami hit my country and stray dogs that used to roam the streets where nowhere to be found. Even our dog was barking before tsunami hit. We also had birds and chicken that all huddled to a corners of the cages. Animals do have a sense of natural disaster.

[ScottKorin]

"Here's where it gets crazy"... oh crap, did I accidentally click on a "Stuff They Don't Want You to Know" video?

[catwilk]

I'm sure they do! I know I did when an ef3 tornado hit r town . I wasn't even that close to the area but I instantly and unexpectedly had intents pain in my guts to witch I instantly fell to my knees in pain.

[SHAWNGAMINGHD]

Yes fun fact I learned birds can sense a rainstorm before it happens if you see birds flying low under the treelined that means a bad storm is coming if they are above the trees that means it's gonna be a nice day.

[crystalsanchez]

Yes my friends dog started barking 6 hours before a 4.6 earthquake happened

[imjaeyeon]

two weeks before a supertyphoon hit us two of my dogs died a week apart. i didnt think much of the first dog that looked like it 'committed suicide' by falling in an awkward position until the second also dropped dead suddenly (both dogs were healthy). Days before they looked so spooked and restless constantly looking at the door and a week after grieving from one death after another the supertyphoon hit. The night of the supertyphoon my other dog (i had 5 dogs) started barking after staying quiet for hours hiding. Around midnight just before the strong winds peeled off my wall (because it wasnt full wood or concrete) my dog started barking as if to say "take cover, take cover its gonna fly off" because we were holding the wall to keep it from being sucked off, by midnight we decided to let go off the wall and run under our metal bunk bed and took shelter from there as the eyewall of the storm passed over us (agonizingly too long because it lasted until morning). I truly believe animals can sense natural disasters

[betz]

My cat woke me up as the loudest sound i ever heard sounded right outside my window. nobody in the house or neighborhood heard a thing. we were scared for our lives. i just cant explain that.

[redsus]

My friend cat started about 2 months acting very strangely when he toked her outside she just stooped in the middle of the road after 2 months of this strangely act a 6.4 hit albania

[Im_leaving]

0:38 They just don't want to admit animals are better at predicting natural disasters than them

[tord]

My animals never really freak out before storms but my dogs have been just randomly barking all night and it's been thundering and stuff as usual in spring but my cats have been on edge all night and keep pinning their ears back and jumping everywhere and I'm scared

[haroonkhan]

IT helped me alot my teacher was proud of me and
i told her about this video thanks alot!!

[BurnRoddy]

Animals may as well have a deeper connection with their senses but I could always predict storms when I broke my collarbone for about 2 whole months and even 6 months after that I could sometimes get a glimpse of future thunderstorms.