WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Can Animals Predict Natural Disasters?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren vog Obam and today's episode as another classic

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<v Speaker 1>from our former host, Christian Sagar. This one has to

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<v Speaker 1>do with a strange phenomenon of animals seemingly miraculously escaping

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<v Speaker 1>certain kinds of natural disasters. Do they have a sixth

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<v Speaker 1>sense about it? Or do they just make better use

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<v Speaker 1>of their senses than humans? Hey brain Stuff, it's me

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<v Speaker 1>Christian Sagar. Have you heard about how pets sometimes go

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<v Speaker 1>missing just before an earthquake hits? Or how about in

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand four when a tsunami hit Southeast Asia and

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<v Speaker 1>killed more than two hundred thousand people, but almost no

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<v Speaker 1>wild animals. And did you know that dogs, elephants, antelopes, bats,

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<v Speaker 1>and even flamingoes fled the scene before the wave hit,

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<v Speaker 1>even flamingos. Many people assume it's because animals are more

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<v Speaker 1>attuned to their environment than we are. Others like the

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<v Speaker 1>United States Geological Survey Agency, say there's no connection between

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<v Speaker 1>animal behavior and natural disasters. But if there were, wouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>it warrant a closer look. Think of the impact it

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<v Speaker 1>would have if we knew animals could predict dangerous natural events. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>the majority of researchers looking into this aren't claiming animals

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<v Speaker 1>have a sixth sense or anything supernatural going on. What

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<v Speaker 1>they do think is that animals make greater use of

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<v Speaker 1>their senses than we do. Using these, they react to

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<v Speaker 1>environmental signals that we stupid humans just don't notice. Of course,

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<v Speaker 1>different species have varying sensitivity to these fluctuations, and most

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<v Speaker 1>evidence is anecdotal. But if animals are aware of natural disasters,

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<v Speaker 1>here's how they know when troubles are coming. Most likely,

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<v Speaker 1>animals can hear sounds that we can't, especially the infrasonic

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<v Speaker 1>low pitched vibrations made by earthquakes, storms, while canoes, avalanches,

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<v Speaker 1>and oceans. In some studies, researchers found that these sounds,

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<v Speaker 1>usually lower than twenty hurts, make humans uneasy and even nauseous.

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<v Speaker 1>So with their greater spectrum of hearing, it makes sense

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<v Speaker 1>that animals would perceive these before us as unsettling. If

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<v Speaker 1>you heard a deep rumbling sound coming at you from

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<v Speaker 1>a wide angle, what would you do? Did you hang

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<v Speaker 1>out and make sandwiches? Or would you run for your life?

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<v Speaker 1>One study that supports this infrasonic hearing theory happened when

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<v Speaker 1>Stanley Corn was studying whether dogs suffered from seasonal effective disorder.

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<v Speaker 1>One day, many of his one hundred and ninety three

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<v Speaker 1>test dogs suddenly flipped out. Corn could not figure out

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<v Speaker 1>what was going on until a day later, when he

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<v Speaker 1>noticed that an earthquake struck nearby at a six point

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<v Speaker 1>eight on the Richter scale. After reviewing the results, Corn

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<v Speaker 1>found that fourteen of the animals had hearing impairments, and

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<v Speaker 1>these were the dogs that didn't become anxious before the earthquakes.

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<v Speaker 1>Looking further, he noticed that dogs with floppy ears were

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<v Speaker 1>less likely to be agitated than those with perky, open ears,

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<v Speaker 1>So it looks like the strength of their sense of

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<v Speaker 1>hearing was what attuned the dogs to the earthquakes low tones.

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<v Speaker 1>Another theory is that through their sense of touch, animals

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<v Speaker 1>can feel vibrations through the ground or sense shifts in

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<v Speaker 1>air or water pressure. Hurricanes are known to decrease such pressures,

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<v Speaker 1>and scientists have observed that sharks change their behavior when

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<v Speaker 1>storms cause pressure drops, swimming to deeper waters where they'll

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<v Speaker 1>be protected. Birds and insects also seek cover when this happens.

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<v Speaker 1>They're also sensitive to something called ray lay waves. These

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<v Speaker 1>are minute vibrations that travel through the Earth's crust. These

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<v Speaker 1>waves are inaudible and travel ten times the speed of sound,

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<v Speaker 1>which would explain why some animals since disaster coming sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>days before it strikes. Now that you've heard the theories,

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<v Speaker 1>do you think we should make safety decisions based on

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<v Speaker 1>the behavior of our local animals? Well, China did in

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<v Speaker 1>nine when they evacuated a city before an earthquake hit

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<v Speaker 1>after its animals showed signs of anxiety that was estimated

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<v Speaker 1>to have saved thousands of lives. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Christian and produced by Tyler Klang. For more on

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<v Speaker 1>this and lots of other topics, visit how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio.

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