Why do animals always predict earthquakes?
Among the natural disasters on Earth, earthquakes are incredibly destructive and often come out of nowhere, but some animals seem to have the superpower to know about them in advance. This is not only intriguing, but also attracts scientists to explore in depth. So which animals have this ability and how do they do it?
Rats in the earthquake before the super active, the whole family out in the street running around, the hidden habits all thrown away, also do not care to find food or hide from the enemy, as if manipulated by the mysterious force, a run jump, and even to the people living in the place to get together, this anomaly is the earthquake early warning signals.
Snakes are also sensitive to earthquakes, before the earthquake will crawl out of the hole, regardless of cold days and hot days, wandering in the road and field, but also anxiously spit letters, the body twisting amplitude becomes larger, the sinuous figure as if to tell the danger will be coming, so that witnesses chills, but also suggests that the earthquake is about to happen.
Poultry are not calm before an earthquake. Chickens will be so excited that they will flap their wings, walk back and forth in the coop, and try to jump out of the cage, and their cries will become high and urgent. Ducks and geese are restless on the water surface, fluttering their wings without leisurely cruising. Some poultry even love to eat are not eaten, these abnormal behaviors are suggesting that the earthquake is coming.
Dogs are also good at predicting earthquakes. Its sense of smell and hearing is superb, before the earthquake can detect subtle changes. Suddenly barking, running around the yard or home, looking for a safe place, but also scratching the door scratching the wall trying to escape, the owner how to appease can not be, this abnormality will continue until the earthquake or the danger of the past.
Fish react significantly before an earthquake. Ponds, rivers and lakes in the fish will suddenly jump out of the water, a lot of fish jumping together, splashing special spectacular. Fishermen often find that before the earthquake fish swimming, not in accordance with the rules, and even to shallow water stranding, which and the water table, water quality and changes in the earth's magnetic field.
Animals can predict earthquakes, a number of principles. First, it is developed senses, like hearing, many animals can listen to infrasound and ultrasound, earthquake generated infrasound although the human ear is difficult to detect, but the animal ears or organs can receive the conversion, elephants rely on the soles of the feet and bones to conduct infrasound perception of earthquakes, bats rely on the ultrasonic reflections of changes in the detection of anomalies.
Animal sense of smell is also very critical. Dogs can sniff out very subtle odor changes, the underground rock stress changes before the earthquake, minerals release a special odor, dogs rely on this to sense the danger. Some animals can also smell changes in water levels and air chemistry.
Sensitivity to changes in magnetic fields also plays a role. Birds and fish migrate and navigate by magnetic field, magnetic field fluctuations before the earthquake, pigeons will be lost or not return to the nest, fish also due to magnetic field anomalies to change the swimming behavior.
Animal body structure and physiology have a role to play. Earthworms in the soil, the body can feel the soil particles micro-motion, before the earthquake small vibrations in the earth's crust over, it will instinctively crawl out to avoid. Insects have sensory organs in their antennae, which can detect air vibration and chemical changes, and change their behavior after receiving abnormal signals.
Animal prediction of earthquakes is also related to instinctive response. In the long-term evolution, animals form an instinctive premonition of danger, and when they perceive an abnormality before an earthquake, their instincts drive them to act to protect themselves and their populations, and such instincts are inherited so that they can react quickly to the threat of an earthquake.
However, these abnormal behaviors of animals do not absolutely mean that an earthquake is imminent. Sometimes, sudden changes in the environment, such as an impending rainstorm or a sudden change in barometric pressure, can cause animals to exhibit similarly disturbing behaviors. This brings great uncertainty and risk of misjudgment to the prediction of earthquakes relying on animal behavior.
In addition, individual differences between animals may also affect their perception and response to earthquakes. Even for the same kind of animal, different individuals may differ greatly in their sensitivity and response style. Some animals may react strongly to minor earthquake precursors, while others may react more slowly or even be unaware of them.
However, trying to use animals to predict earthquakes for humans is not easy. Animal behavior is disturbed by many factors, such as hot and cold weather, how much food, whether they are sick, etc., may make them have abnormal behavior, it is difficult to distinguish whether it is due to earthquakes or other reasons.
But this does not mean that animal warning is useless. Some places have begun to try to utilize it. For example, Japan to observe catfish, catfish are sensitive to small vibrations before the earthquake, record their activities and then analyzed in conjunction with other monitoring. China has also studied the behavior of poultry and livestock and seismic instrument data comparison.
Although it is not yet possible to rely on animals alone to accurately forecast earthquakes, but this is a good start. With the depth of the study, the future may be able to borrow the power of animals in advance warning, reduce earthquake losses, so that mankind and nature are more harmonious. After all, the special ability of animals in this regard is a magical gift given by nature, and is worth exploring and cherishing.
