How do animals learn about an earthquake? How do domestic animals react to the approach of an earthquake and what is the reaction of wild animals? How do pets react to an approaching earthquake?

Animals are able to anticipate natural disasters with incredible accuracy and often manage to save not only themselves, but also the lives of people who do not disdain to trust the premonitions of our smaller brothers. Let's try to understand this amazing mechanism.

FROM SUPERSTITION TO SCIENCE

For thousands of years, people have noticed that unusual behavior or spontaneous migrations of animals had devastating consequences. Some peoples, for example the inhabitants of China and India, preferred to listen to the wisdom of nature, while others, in a fit of superstitious fear, rushed to exterminate the creatures branded by the demon, trying to prevent the inevitable. Now unusual ability Animals' ability to anticipate the onset of disasters is studied by a relatively young field of research called seismobiology, or bioseismology. Its founder is considered to be the Kazakh naturalist, doctor biological sciences Pavel Marikovsky.

It is quite problematic to describe even a simplified model of the mechanism for recognizing future disasters in a nutshell, because most of its aspects remain hypothetical to this day due to insufficient research. Biologists have only been able to unambiguously study the effect, while the cause still belongs to the realm of theory. The "prophetic gift" of animals is believed to be based on detecting changes magnetic field Earth, an increase in static electricity, fluctuations in air pressure, the presence of gases released from the bowels, as well as on the recognition of infrasound and weak ultrasonic noises preceding tremors.

FORECASTING ORGAN

Science does not know for certain which organ is responsible for reading information about the state from the environment electromagnetic field planets. However, there is a lot of experimental evidence of the existence of a certain “internal compass”, which is present in all migratory birds and other migratory animals. The vestibular apparatus, or, more precisely, the microcrystals of magnetite contained in it, as well as the special light-sensitive protein cryptochrome, found in the retina of the eyes of almost all multicellular living beings, including humans, are equally likely to play the role of “internal compasses.”

In one way or another, seismically sensitive animal species sense even the slightest fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field, which inevitably arise when lithospheric plates shift. Moreover, the processes occurring in the depths also affect the dynamics of change atmospheric pressure, which affects the speed of propagation and frequency of sounds. This acoustic feature is geologically active areas helped to suggest that animals with sensitive hearing - dogs, elephants or songbirds - notice changes in the pitch and tonality of background noise and instinctively seek to leave an area with an abnormal environment.

According to studies dating back to the end of the last century, 70 species of animals are able to anticipate the onset of a cataclysm long before the event itself due to electromagnetic orientation. Further research expanded this number to 250 species of living beings, and modern data, according to various estimates, distinguishes from 600 to several thousand species.

According to the founder of bioseismology, P.I. Marikovsky, many domestic animals and those living in close proximity to human settlements are able to successfully anticipate the onset of natural disasters quite early. long term. As a rule, they all react to shocks with a magnitude of at least 4 units on the Richter scale. System assessment laboratory research and the experience of past years made it possible to form a diagram showing how acutely seismic-sensitive animals sense the approach of a catastrophe depending on the extent of the event in time and the distance of the object from the epicenter of the earthquake.

It is known that fish, and especially tiny ones, are particularly sensitive to impending disasters. aquarium neons, - they are able to predict earthquakes several weeks in advance, even being 250 km from the epicentral zone of the shock. Snakes, rats and mice located in the immediate vicinity of the epicenter leave their holes 10 days before the inevitable, and dogs, cats, pigs, cows, horses, small livestock and pigeons are able to anticipate earthquakes more than a day in advance, even being 100 km from the shock zone.

ATTEMPTS OF SCIENTIFIC APPLICATION

The history of modern times knows many examples when our people gathered around the planet turned out to be much more perspicacious than humans in terms of foreseeing a great natural disaster. On February 5, 1783, superstitious Italians, scared to death, began to shoot dogs that suddenly howled in the silence of the night. At the same time, the geese and chickens seemed to go berserk and began to fight and scream loudly, and sea ​​fish For no apparent reason, she floated up lifeless. The "bad omen" seen in these events by local residents resulted in a major earthquake.

In 1792, all swallows suddenly disappeared in Kamchatka. 12 hours later, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.4 on the Richter scale shook the peninsula.

In the early autumn of 1855, almost all sparrows left the city of Edo (present-day Tokyo, Japan). Inconspicuous small pichugi, to which the Japanese traditionally pay great attention, disappeared literally overnight. Since the beginning of November, the chickens have flatly refused to return to the chicken coops and spent the night right under open air, on November 8, cows followed their example, preferring dank pastures to cozy pens, and on the 11th of the same month, the island of Honshu was shaken by a devastating earthquake with a magnitude of 9 units.

Now scientists in many Asian, coastal and island countries, exposed to the destructive whims of seismic activity, are carefully studying the behavior of animals on the eve of disasters, trying to use it for their needs. At the same time, there is only one successful documented large-scale experiment in earthquake prediction using seismobiology methods, and it belongs to Chinese scientists.

In December 1974, Chinese seismologists began receiving regular reports from Hainan province of snakes escaping their burrows en masse. In January, Hainan cattle supported panic sentiments " creepy crawlies" and refused to return to the stalls for the night. After this, the provincial authorities made an unprecedented decision to begin the evacuation of the population, although there was no “objective” reason for this - the seismic equipment continued to remain silent. This hasty decision from the point of view of official science helped save 400 thousand lives - in February 1975, Hainan was wiped off the face of the earth by an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.

The innate mechanisms of anticipation of impending disasters, inherent in some representatives of the animal world, do not lose relevance in our high-tech digital age. In 2009, an unremarkable specimen of the common toad (Bufo bufo) suddenly left a pond on the outskirts of L'Aquila, Italy. A few days later, on April 6, L’Aquila was hit by a devastating earthquake, estimated at 5.8-6.3 Richter units. It claimed the lives of 279 people and left more than 40 thousand residents homeless. According to zoologists, the toads, located 74 km from the epicenter of the tremors, detected a change in the concentration of particles of radioactive gases that accompanied early signs of seismic activity. By the way, the toads returned to their native reservoir immediately after the cataclysm.

A little earlier, in December 2004, the northeastern states of the basin Indian Ocean hit by the deadliest tsunami of our time, killing more than 230 thousand people in southern India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and the Maldives. According to various estimates, the magnitude of the tremors that generated the tsunami ranged from 9.1 to 9.3, however, despite the colossal destruction and the huge number of victims, wild animals were practically unharmed in the disaster, leaving the dangerous areas in time.

Literally prophetic sensitivity of animals to the onset of cataclysms - indisputable fact. But the lack of a rigorous scientifically proven basis does not yet allow the use of observations of the behavior of living organisms to predict natural disasters.

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The most famous animal fortuneteller is Phil the groundhog, who lives in the small town of Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvania in the USA. It is believed that if a groundhog, emerging from its hibernation house, sees its shadow, that is, the day is sunny, it will go to sleep for another six weeks. If there is no shade, spring is just around the corner. Every year on February 2, Groundhog Day, at exactly twenty-five minutes past eight in the morning, Phil is pulled out of his hole, and he makes his prediction.

Scientists now name about 600 species of animals and 400 species of plants that can act as barometers, indicators of humidity and temperature, predictors of storms, storms or good cloudless weather.

Animals have learned to hide in cracks and holes to escape tornadoes, storms and tornadoes; they leave dangerous territory in time before tsunamis, floods and earthquakes.

Loaches accurately determine the weather. These fish are usually inactive, but before bad weather they begin to rush back and forth, rising to the surface of the water 10-15 times per minute.

Leeches, bleaks and catfish also behave before a thunderstorm. This is due, first of all, to a change (in this case, a decrease) in atmospheric pressure, while the concentration of oxygen in the water drops, which naturally causes concern for aquatic animals: they rise to the surface, where there is more oxygen.

In fresh water bodies, crayfish crawl ashore before the rain. A similar picture can be seen at sea. If small crabs, hermit crabs, and amphipods have gone ashore, it means there is a storm.

Frogs scream and croak heart-rendingly several hours before the rain. In anticipation of a storm, seagulls stop flying, walk along the shore with a loud squeak and express alarm with their entire appearance, and sometimes even bury themselves in the sand. Petrels, living up to their name, change their routes ahead of time. long-haul flights and in anticipation of the storm they cling to the shore.

Even when clear sky ants quickly close all entrances to the anthill. The bees stop flying to the flowers for nectar, sit in the hive and buzz. Butterflies also try to take cover before a thunderstorm. If they are not visible above the flowers, it means that it will start raining in a few hours.

Many animals begin to behave differently than usual even before earthquakes. But unlike weather and atmospheric cataclysms, on the eve of underground strikes they do not hide in their shelters, but, on the contrary, crawl out of them into the open space.

For example, mountain goats of the Sierra Nevada ranges descend from high-mountain pastures to the plain several days before earthquakes with a force of more than 5 magnitudes. Other mountain residents also react to the approach of tremors - foxes and wolves leave the forests. Lay down on hibernation marmots suddenly wake up a day before the earthquake and crawl out of their holes. They behave in a similar way earthworms, which, despite the drop in temperature, crawl out of the soil in large quantities.

There are widespread cases when pets are killed an hour or two before the earthquake begins.
Scientists' observations of animal behavior were noted as early as 328 BC. e. The ancient thinker wrote: “A few days before the earthquake that destroyed the city of Helikos in Greece, moles, weasels, echidnas and centipedes came out of their holes and took to a disorderly flight...”

In Chile, before the earthquake in 1835, every single dog left the city of Talcuano.

In 1902, long before the eruption of the Mont Pelee volcano on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean, sensing the approach of a disaster, all the birds flew away from the city of Saint-Pierre, frogs and snakes, and then dogs and cats. The volcano completely destroyed the city in thirty seconds.

Shortly before the earthquake on May 5, 1976, in the Italian province of Friuli, cats began to carry kittens out of their houses with feverish haste, and dogs spun around on a chain and howled incessantly.

12 hours before the earthquake in Morocco at the end of February 1980, dogs and cats began to run out of houses into the streets, and even camels, absolutely indifferent to everything in the world, hastened to leave populated areas.

But in China in February 1975, thanks to the unusual behavior of animals, tens of thousands of people were saved. At the end of 1974 - beginning of 1975, Chinese scientists began to receive regular reports from Liaoning province, where increased seismic activity was always observed, about unusual restless behavior of animals. Snakes woke up from hibernation, crawled out into the snow and froze, all the cats disappeared from the houses, horses broke stalls in the stables, and cows butted and did not allow themselves to be milked.

And then an unprecedented decision was made to evacuate the city of Haicheng, which in February 1975 was completely wiped off the face of the earth by a catastrophic earthquake of magnitude more than 7.0. As a result of the earthquake, 90% of the city's buildings were destroyed.
In the history of seismology, this is practically the only earthquake that was predicted in advance. Accurate forecast and measures taken in advance by the city authorities made it possible to reduce losses to a minimum. During earthquakes of this magnitude, the usual death toll reaches 100 thousand people, and the death toll from the Haicheng earthquake was 1,328 people.

After the Spitak earthquake in Armenia, which occurred in 1988, the story of the husky Alice and her owner Gharibyan from Leninakan became widely known. On the morning of December 7, two hours before the earthquake, the owner took the dog out for a walk, but Alice refused to go back into the house and howled and barked terribly. The frightened owner called the police, the city council, the radio, and everywhere they laughed at him. Just in case, Gharibyan decided to take his family out of the house and suggested that his neighbors do the same. And not in vain, since it was at this time that the elements struck the city. Before this, Gharibyan lived for twenty years in Kamchatka and from there he brought the husky, which saved the life of his family.

Cats are also sensitive to the approach of underground thunderstorms. History knows many cases when, on the eve of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, they left their owners without hesitation, left the city and returned only after the disaster.

But there were cases when cats saved their owners living in earthquake-prone areas, better than any instruments in determining the approach of an earthquake, volcanic eruption or tsunami. This story happened in 1944 in Italy. People were no longer afraid of the dying Vesuvius, because the last eruption of the volcano was 80 years ago. Two old men were sleeping in their house, and only their cat could not calm down. He did not want to stay in the house and did not eat. At night he even began to scratch the owner’s face. The old people decided that he was warning them about the impending danger, and, having collected the most necessary things, they took the cat and went to relatives who lived far from the volcano. About an hour later, Vesuvius exploded, their house was swept away by a lava flow, but, thanks to the cat, the old people were saved.

During the Second World War, during bombings, cats often saved their owners. Similar cases occurred in all warring countries. Before the bombing, the cats' fur stood on end, they made hissing sounds, howled, and some rushed straight to the nearest bomb shelters. At the slightest sign of anxiety in the cats, the owners quickly gathered and ran to bomb shelters. This ability of cats turned out to be so valuable that a special medal was established in Europe with the words engraved on it: “We also serve our homeland.” The medal was awarded to cats who saved greatest number human lives.

Inspired by Paul's success, the leaders of the zoo in the German city of Leipzig decided to make an oracle from a cross-eyed female opossum named Heidi. In February 2011, Heidi “guessed” two Oscar winners. Heidi, popular in Germany, was featured on the American show Jimmy Kimmel Live! ABC TV channel. From the proposed figurines with photographs of actors, Heidi chose figurines with portraits of Natalie Portman and Colin Firth. Portman and Firth actually received awards for best female and male roles in the films “Black Swan” (Black Swan) by Darren Aronofsky and “The King’s Speech!” (The King's Speech) by Tom Hooper.

Winner in the category " Best movie“Heidi, however, failed to guess - instead of the film “The King’s Speech,” the “fortune teller” pointed to the film “127 Hours.”

In September 2011, Heidi, who was three and a half years old,...

In July 2011, at the Women's World Cup in Germany, Nellie the elephant from the Serengeti Nature Park in Hodenhagen (Lower Saxony) predicted the outcome of all the matches of the German team, including the defeat of the host team in the quarterfinal match by the Japanese team. The shrewd elephant made her choice in the following way: two goals were placed next to each other, indicating the opposing teams, and Nellie tried to hit them with the ball at her disposal. Whichever goal the ball flew into, that team lost.

New Zealand has its own oracle - a sheep named Sonny Wool. She predicted New Zealand's victory in the Rugby World Cup final in October 2011. Sonny Wool chose the New Zealand flag feeder throughout the tournament and the final was no exception. The fortune telling ceremony took place in the country's capital, Wellington. Owner Sonny is sure that it was thanks to the sheep that the New Zealanders won victories.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Many animals behave restlessly before an earthquake. Do they feel something that we don't feel? Observations show that various animals are able to sense early signs of an approaching earthquake.

Unusual behavior of animals before strong earthquakes has been observed both in ancient times and in modern times. Animals appear to be able to detect early warning signs of an earthquake much earlier than sophisticated seismological equipment.

Although Western scientists are skeptical about this phenomenon, their Eastern colleagues easily agree that different kinds animals can sense an approaching earthquake. Long-term observations of animal behavior as an early warning system for earthquakes have been adopted as an important area of ​​research in China and Japan. But can animals really predict earthquakes, and if so, how?

It is quite clear that the most noticeable among the creatures that react to the precursors of earthquakes are animals that live near humans either as domestic animals or as synanthropes. Dogs appear to be particularly sensitive to earthquake signals. On the day before the great earthquake that devastated Italian Calabria in 1783, dogs in Messina, Sicily barked and howled so hysterically that the authorities eventually ordered them to be shot. Many dogs were killed, but the survivors continued to bark and howl until a strong earthquake occurred there.

Another example is the written evidence of alarm dogs before the earthquake in Chile. On February 20, 1835, in Talcaguano, near Conceppión, dogs began to bark and then left the city. A powerful earthquake that began soon destroyed Talcaguano to the ground. Similar cases of strange dog behavior were documented several hours before the earthquake that occurred in Argentina in the city of San Juan in 1942. On the eve of the catastrophic San Francisco earthquake of 1906, dogs howled loudly and incessantly, to the bewilderment and horror of their unsuspecting owners. Events unfolded in approximately the same way before the earthquake in Assisi in 1997 and before the disaster that occurred in Ismet (Turkey) in 1999. The restless behavior of dogs and other pets in the Chinese city of Haicheng in 1999 forced the authorities to decide to evacuate, saving many lives, because the city was destroyed by an earthquake that same day.

Rats are running...

Although rats are said to flee from a sinking ship, there is documented evidence that they have sometimes abandoned cities before earthquakes. In the early morning of February 9, 1971, two police officers patrolling an area of ​​the Californian city of San Fernando (Valley) were surprised by the countless number of rats running in swarms through the streets of the city. Moreover, the same groups of running rats were observed on the other side of the city. The reason for this phenomenon became clear to the residents of San Fernando when a monstrous earthquake struck the city a few minutes before six o'clock in the morning.

Air and water earthquake detectors

Birds and aquatic animals have also been frequently reported as predictors of earthquakes. At that moment, when the dogs fled from the doomed Talcaguano on February 20, 1835, panic-stricken and constantly shrill seagulls flew in the sky above the city. Seagulls in Iquique, Chile, demonstrated similar behavior just hours before the 1868 earthquake. An interesting picture was observed in Hebgen Lake in the US state of Montana. Less than 12 hours before the earthquake on Lake Hebgen on August 17, 1959, all the water birds that usually live there in a dense colony took to the air and flew away.

Japanese fishermen often reported disorientation of fish and aquatic invertebrates in fresh and even deep sea waters, making them easier to catch. Cases have been recorded of catfish jumping out of ponds before an earthquake, and eels, shortly before an earthquake, crawling overland from one body of water to another, located quite far away. An unexpected abundance of octopuses was noted in the shallow waters of Japan's Ogi Peninsula before the 1939 earthquake. Many deep sea species, including two common kingfish (Regalecus glesne), a six-meter giant squid, a deep-sea threadtail eel (Nemichlhys) and a 1.4-meter sawtooth (Alepisaums borealis), were caught at or near the surface just before the Tokashi-Oki earthquake May 16, 1968, and in Uwayima, three months later.

One of the leading earthquake researchers, physicist Professor Motoyi Ikeya, learned about catfish jumping out of reservoirs before an earthquake, and tried to test the sensitivity of these fish. Since an electric field is generated in the ground before an earthquake, Ikea conducted experiments on the electrical sensitivity of these fish. Experiments have shown that fish exhibit strong arousal when exposed to weak (4-5 volts/m) electric fields. And eels turned out to be even more sensitive to electric fields.

When snakes become wary

Snakes, sensing an approaching earthquake, leave their shelters in advance and crawl away. No doubt this dramatic behavior inspired Professor Helmut Trybutsch to title his book on earthquake-predicting animals, When the Snakes Wake (1982).

The ability of snakes to anticipate earthquakes is so great and irresistible that they awaken from hibernation and crawl out of their hiding places into the cold, snow-covered world if they sense the hidden, early signs of an earthquake. Six weeks before the earthquake that struck the Chinese city of Haicheng on February 4, 1975, snakes awoke from hibernation and crawled out of their holes, although many died from freezing in the snow. Two other notable cases were reported within the same month in China. Early in the morning of July 26, 1979, a swarming mass of hundreds of snakes appeared in a pit located approximately 40 kilometers from the city of Tangshan in the Chinese province of Hebei. Less than two days later, Tangshan was destroyed by a powerful earthquake. Similarly, in August 1976, many snakes unexpectedly left their burrows in Sichuan province just before a large earthquake struck the neighboring counties of Pingwu and Songpan.

Early Warning Signs

An earthquake is usually preceded by vibration of the ground. Since snakes, insects and spiders live near its surface and are very sensitive to vibrations, they may sense the vibrations that precede an earthquake. There are descriptions of many cases when these creatures left their nests or shelters in disarray immediately before an earthquake. Sometimes earthquake-related movements of underground gases produce infrasonic waves. These waves can be sensed by pigeons and other birds that use low-frequency sounds as cues during their long-distance flights.

It turns out that animals that sense early signs of earthquakes can sense the buildup of positive electrical ions in the air. These ions accumulate before an earthquake as a result of powerful compression of underground rocks. Dogs, snakes, birds, catfish and other aquatic animals can apparently recognize these ions.

People who once felt the effects of ions may not feel them later. But some people become depressed and even get sick if they are exposed to positive ions. Perhaps these people retained sensitivity to earthquakes as a hereditary atavism.

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Scientists have long been studying the behavior of various animals before an earthquake. It worries researchers all over the world. Such interest was recorded even before our era (328). An ancient scientist wrote that five days before the terrible earthquake in the Greek city of Helikos, weasels and moles, centipedes and echidnas left their holes and took flight.

Despite this, for a long time the unusual behavior of animals before an earthquake was not studied by scientists. This issue began to be actively addressed at the beginning of the 20th century.

How do pets react to an approaching earthquake?

Don’t be surprised, but perhaps there is a living earthquake indicator in your home. Of course, we will talk about our pets. For some, these are dogs or cats, for others, cute hamsters or leisurely turtles. Many people prefer to watch tropical fish or funny parrots. Sometimes neither the owner of the animal nor an experienced zoologist is able to explain some of the actions and behaviors of pets.

Sometimes the behavior of animals goes beyond the usual and, as it seems to us, has no apparent reason. It is quite possible that your pet sensed the approaching start of tremors and wants to warn you about it.

Owners have long begun to pay attention to the behavior of domestic animals before an earthquake in seismically dangerous zones. After strong earthquakes, people recalled that their pets gave them a sign. For example, a usually calm dog begins to rush around and cannot find a place for itself, trying in every possible way to leave the room, or mice suddenly leave the barn together. Many animals exhibit unusual activity before an earthquake. For example, snakes come to the surface of the earth at inopportune hours.

How to recognize the signal being sent

An observant and attentive person will definitely notice that the behavior of domestic animals changes before an earthquake. But it should be noted that not all of our four-legged friends have the capabilities of seismic indicators. In addition, even different individuals of the same species are often endowed with different abilities. It is possible to identify something unusual in the behavior of an animal, which may indicate seismic disturbances, only after careful and long-term observation of it.

Animals and earthquake

Observations of animal behavior led to the emergence of such fields of science as seismobiology and bioseismology. Scientists around the world are trying to uncover one of the greatest secrets nature - the ability of living beings to sense the approach of danger.

When discussing how pets react to an earthquake, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the examples told by people who experienced this natural phenomenon.

In September 1927, in Crimea, 12 hours before the start of the tremors, cows refused to feed and began to moo anxiously, horses were breaking from their leashes, cats and dogs huddled close to their owners and howled and meowed.

In Ashgabat (1948) at a stud farm, the behavior of animals before the earthquake was even more violent. The horses knocked down the stable gate and broke out. Two hours later the building collapsed from an earthquake.

Laika Alice

This dog became famous after the Spitak earthquake. On December 7, A. Gharibyan and his pet went out for a regular walk. It was in the city of Leninakan. Alice refused to go back to the house. She howled and barked. The frightened owner called the police, the radio, and the city council, but nowhere were his messages taken seriously.

Gharibyan decided to play it safe and took his family out of the house. He recommended the neighbors do the same. It was at this time that the elements broke out. Garibyan brought his savior from Kamchatka, where he lived for many years.

Speaking about how pets react to the approach of an earthquake, it should be noted that in Chile in 1835, every single dog left the city of Talcuano.

Before the earthquakes began in the Italian province of Friuli (in 1976), all cats took their kittens out of their homes.

12 hours before the earthquake in Morocco (1980), cats and dogs began to leave their homes. And even camels, indifferent to everything, hurried to leave populated areas.

How domestic animals react to the approach of an earthquake became of interest to scientists after they successfully predicted an earthquake in Liaoning Province (China) in 1975, largely based on an unusual and strange behavior animals. Snakes, awakened from hibernation, crawled out of underground holes, and pets hurried to leave their homes. A decision was made to evacuate the residents of the city of Haicheng. Soon locality was wiped off the face of the earth by a strong earthquake. An accurate forecast and timely actions by the authorities helped reduce the number of victims to a minimum.

In 1976, scientists gathered in the United States to discuss the possibilities of earthquake bioprediction. Representatives of science recognized that this phenomenon needs to be studied more carefully.

Animal behavior in the wild

Observing amphibians, scientists discovered that male toads in the city of L'Aquila urgently left their spawning grounds five days before the earthquake, and returned there several days after everything had calmed down. Scientists have not yet been able to explain this behavior of animals before the earthquake Toads are known to be very sensitive to weather changes, but weather stations did not record any changes in the weather before the tremors began.

Crocodiles

According to researchers, crocodiles are considered the most sensitive living seismographs. They didn’t miss a single one. Five hours before the start of the strongest earthquake on the island of Honshu, alligators began to make loud sounds that were very reminiscent of a growl, they raised their tails and heads up. Agree, such uncharacteristic behavior of animals during an earthquake cannot go unnoticed.

Crocodiles are able to sense an approaching earthquake 150 km from the epicenter.

Sharks and fish

Scientists believe that more than 600 species of animals have the ability to predict abnormalities. Sharks are also endowed with them. Any changes in atmospheric pressure are reflected in water pressure, which, in turn, affects the behavior of the above-mentioned inhabitants of the depths.

A very small fish called the Nile elephant is endowed with a phenomenal “seismic” sense. In the mountainous regions of the Pamirs there is an aquarium with these creatures, which begin to behave restlessly four days before the earthquake.

Exists scientific theory that bottom-dwelling fish are seismically sensitive.

Behavior of other animals

They descend from the ridges to the plains several days before the start of tremors. Wolves and foxes are leaving the forests. Marmots, even having gone to hibernation, a day before natural disaster wake up and leave their holes. As you can see, the behavior of animals during an earthquake boils down to the desire to leave the territory of seismic disturbance.

In Indonesian, on the evening before the earthquake, thirty elephants came down from the mountains. They lined up, without touching any crops or buildings. The mighty animals simply stood and looked at the doomed village, and then turned around and disappeared into the jungle. Today, residents of the destroyed village are sure that the animals warned them of danger, but remained misunderstood by people.

In the state of California (USA), where the most destructive earthquakes, cages with mice and rats are placed. They are monitored by the latest electronic devices. At the slightest change in the behavior of animals, the signal goes to the specialists of the Seismography Center.

Today we told you how pets react to an approaching earthquake. Perhaps, if you carefully monitor your pets, you will be able to avoid many of the troubles that nature can present to us.

It has been known since ancient times that animals anticipate earthquakes. Why? Until now, this has not been explained. New theory allows us to understand why snakes, birds and dogs become restless when an underground disaster threatens to shake a particular country.

Suddenly mice ran out. They slipped out of all the cracks and holes, circling around the room or yard in confusion. It seemed that the lost animals would become easy prey for the cats, but there was no trace of them. On that day, May 6, 1976, in the Italian village of San Leopoldo, all living creatures went crazy. Mice squealed, birds darted, snakes darted. The pigs, locked in cubbyholes, became ferocious and bit off each other’s tails. Other pets, on the contrary, behaved extremely apathetically. In the evening, the reason for such unusual behavior of the animals became clear. At 21:00, an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale occurred in the Italian region of Friuli (here is the village of San Leopoldo). 41 villages were destroyed, about a thousand people died. But the animals foresaw trouble in advance.

The ancient Greek historian Diodorus spoke about the supernatural sense of animals. In 373 BC. A powerful earthquake destroyed the city of Helica, which lay on the shores of the Gulf of Corinth. The sea that rushed in after the disaster swallowed up the destroyed city - a city for which many animals foreshadowed disaster. Five days before the disaster struck, rats, snakes and beetles became alarmed. In whole hordes they headed to the neighboring town of Coria, located far from the sea. They were safe. Only people who did not believe the bad omen died.

The Romans, like the Greeks, also knew that “animals prophesy misfortune.” When the dogs, geese and horses became restless, the Senate met - out of caution - in the open air.
And these days, many people living in seismically dangerous areas monitor the behavior of their pets very closely. Peasants in the Andes, for example, keep canaries in their homes, which act as primitive seismographs. "Primitive" does not mean unreliable. Feeling an imminent underground strike, the canaries begin to worry, desperately flapping their wings and chirping.
Sometimes the sensitivity of animals can become fatal for them.

In 1783, a powerful earthquake occurred in the city of Messina in Sicily; it was followed by new tremors. Every time before the aftershock (repeated impact), the dogs started barking incredibly. The seismic shocks became weaker, but the barking did not stop. And then, the nerves of the townspeople could not stand it. It was decided to shoot all the dogs, although they only honestly warned of danger.

Until now, scientists have managed to predict a major earthquake only once, and it was not some ultra-modern instruments that helped them, but again... animals. This happened in China. In 1974, “Chairman Mao” declared another campaign in the country - a “people's war” against earthquakes. The reason was the statement of scientists that in the next two years a major earthquake will occur in Liaoning province. On the radio and in newspapers, at industrial meetings and school classes, it was repeated that “we need to take a closer look at the behavior of domestic animals.”
In just a few weeks, over 100 thousand people were drafted into this “people’s war.” They reported all suspicious facts. In the first days of February 1975, something unusual really began to happen in the area of ​​​​the town of Haicheng. Snakes were seen everywhere, crawling out of the caves where they spent the winter and freezing right on the road. Level groundwater began to change. Finally, on February 4, a state of emergency was declared. People were evacuated all day and all valuables were removed. As the hectic day drew to a close and the authorities began to wonder if they had succumbed to panic, the elements struck. A magnitude 7.3 earthquake completely destroyed the city, but only a few hundred people died.
Nature took its toll a year later, in July 1976, a month and a half before Mao’s death. It was in vain that the population complained about the alarming omens - as it turned out later, over two thousand such complaints were received - the authorities in Beijing had no time for this. On July 27, a great disaster came to the city of Tangshan - a large coal and metallurgical center with a population of one million. According to official data, 240 thousand people died, but other figures are also cited - up to 600 thousand.
Is the canary listening to the foreshock?
For a long time no one could explain why animals became restless shortly before an earthquake. What special do they feel? How can they guess about the insidiousness of underground attacks? They've never seen an earthquake! Or maybe some side effects accompanying an underground strike frighten them?
It was assumed, for example, that animals sense foreshocks - weak underground tremors that precede main blow underground element. In 1988, during a special earthquake in Armenia, which destroyed the cities of Spitak and Leninakan, some people managed to leave their apartments after the first weak tremors. However, the foreshock and the main seismic shock were separated by a matter of seconds. But cows, snakes and other living “devices” - According to Chinese researchers, 58 species of animals predict the approach of a seismic catastrophe - they experience anxiety as early as 20 hours before the disaster, which means they are worried about something else.
Maybe they smell some gases released from the bowels of the earth, or hear acoustic waves arising from shifts in deep rocks? This guess is refuted by canaries and other songbirds, whose sense of smell and hearing is no better than yours and mine. However, the birds are rushing about in their cages long before the underground impacts, but we don’t feel anything.
Or perhaps the level of atmospheric electricity changes shortly before an earthquake?
Scientists were able to find out that:
- when granite slabs are crushed under pressure, they begin to glow in the infrared range, and before their destruction, bright flashes appeared.
Eyewitnesses of the earthquakes also report that some kind of glow emanated from the mountains and hills;
- in 1989, shortly before the earthquake in California, electromagnetic radiation was recorded emanating from the bowels of the Earth. The same signals were observed in 1995 in Kobe before the earthquake. Their appearance can only be explained by powerful electric currents in the bowels of the Earth shortly before the disaster;
- the positively charged layer of the ionosphere above zone 8 of the future earthquake swells, which leads to disruptions in radio communications. This is caused by the fact that a charge of the same name accumulates in the lower layers of air.

How do animals react?
— when positively charged aerosols are inhaled, the hormone serotonin begins to be released in the body of animals, causing sudden mood swings, as well as nausea. People also react painfully to such an air mixture. So, when a foehn begins to blow in the Alps or the Caucasus - a dry, warm wind containing many charged particles - many people experience migraine attacks;
— the fur of animals is charged with electrostatic electricity. Small animals react especially sharply to this, in which the ratio of body surface area to its volume is very large;
- aquatic animals are sensitive to charged particles, since water is a good conductor of electricity;
— in enclosed spaces the content of charged particles is higher than in the open air, so animals leave their holes, run out of houses, and get out of caves.

It should, however, be mentioned that animals also show anxiety before a thunderstorm or storm, when there is also “electricity in the air.” Apparently they mistake the imminent earthquake for a thunderstorm gathering in the air. In turn, we, expecting “seismic news” from animals, can often be deceived. Their anxiety can only “bring” a thunderstorm.
Still, the idea of ​​predicting earthquakes using animals has not been abandoned. “Participation in such an experiment would be very interesting,” says Eve Sargent, director of the San Francisco Zoo, although I personally think not individual species animals,
and only some of the most sensitive individuals can predict earthquakes. After all, with animals it’s the same as with people: some have more developed intuition than others.” In any case, when it comes to saving human lives - thousands and even tens of thousands of lives - any forecasts are good if they are correct. Even if the authors of the forecasts are snakes, mice and fish, we must listen to them too. Their opinion may be decisive.

Is there a “calm before the storm”?
In the early 1990s, German geologist Jochen Zschau put forward the “calm before the storm” hypothesis. He drew attention to the fact that several months before a major earthquake, microearthquakes stopped, which can be recorded using the latest equipment. However, the scientist himself was forced to admit: “Sometimes there is no earthquake behind such calm.” What is the risk of an inaccurate forecast in this case? Complete paralysis of economic life. The entire population of the area will be evacuated, and nothing will happen either in a day or in a month.
Fire tames the earth

The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 entered the history of geology and philosophy. All of Europe was reading Voltaire’s lines: “The sages of the country have not found a surer way to save themselves from final destruction than organizing a wonderful auto-da-fé spectacle for the people. The University of Coimbra has decreed that burning a few people with a small fire, but with great ceremony, is undoubtedly the surest way to stop the shaking of the earth.”