During the week of the infamous Loma Prieta Earthquake anniversary, two earthquakes occurred in the California region. Some have started to wonder if dogs have enhanced abilities around natural disasters after noticing the peculiar behaviors of the local dogs just before the recent quakes.
Twitter exploded with numerous accounts of strange behaviors from furry friends shortly after the earthquakes. The strange outbursts, from coyotes to house dogs, were everywhere.
Since 373 BC, there have been reports of strange dog behavior before natural disasters. There’s no denying that in some circumstances, our dog’s senses are heightened, but is there any evidence from science that shows dogs can predict earthquakes?
After a devastating earthquake struck Japan in 2011, Japanese researchers started a study to look at how dogs behaved. Prior to the earthquake, researchers spoke with 1,259 dog owners and asked them specific questions about their canines. This study found that 236 of the owners reported their dogs’ restlessness, neediness, howling, and unusual behaviors that day. In the moments before the earthquake, 60% of these behaviors took place.
Other research has discovered a connection between the peculiar behavior and a dog’s capacity to detect smaller seismic compressional waves that can happen before an earthquake can be felt by people. If so, their peculiar howling and neediness can be attributed to their capacity to detect earthquake waves before they reach their larger counterparts. They might just be sensing waves that we can’t yet feel rather than actually forecasting an earthquake.
Due to the impossibility of conducting a controlled study of earthquakes, an actual long-term study on this subject can be quite difficult. Because earthquakes can occur at any time, planning this dog research has proven challenging. We might have to rely on reports of animal behavior prior to earthquakes until then.
We can all agree that despite everything, our furry friends have unique characteristics that we may never fully comprehend. Do you think that dogs have the ability to foretell earthquakes and other natural disasters?
That may explain why dogs can sense danger in the first few seconds after an earthquake, but it does not support the notion that they can alert to an earthquake hours or even days in advance. Dogs may be hearing the high-pitched, underground seismic activity of rocks grinding and scraping together that occurs before an earthquake, or they may be picking up other early indicators, such as the ground tilting or changes in the earth’s magnetic field.
A study by Dr. Stanley Coren supports this suggestion. Dr. Coren collected data the day before a level 6 storm while investigating whether dogs can experience seasonal affective disorder. 8 earthquake hit the Pacific Northwest. 200 dogs living in Vancouver, Canada, a city affected by the earthquake, were included in his data, along with their levels of activity and anxiety. 49 percent of the dogs displayed a noticeably higher level of anxiety the day before the earthquake, and 47 percent were noticeably more active. In comparison to the previous steady daily averages, this was a significant increase.
To investigate the possibility that the dogs were hearing high-pitched sounds in greater detail According to the size of their heads, Coren categorized the dogs in his study. Dogs with smaller heads should have picked up more of the earthquake predictor sounds because smaller-headed mammals can hear higher frequencies better than larger-headed mammals. In contrast to dogs with larger heads, those with smaller heads tended to exhibit a much greater increase in activity and anxiety before the earthquake. This offers additional potential proof that dogs are being warned of impending earthquakes by high-frequency seismic sounds.
The upcoming earthquake appears to be the most likely cause of the behavioral changes in the dogs. But what were they sensing? Dr. Coren dug into the data to learn more because he thought they were hearing seismic activity. In his study, 14 dogs had hearing problems, but all but one of them did not exhibit the heightened activity and anxiety that the other dogs did. Maybe they couldn’t see what was bothering their fellow dogs. Because he shared a home with a dog who could hear normally, the one hearing-impaired dog who did respond anxiously may have been responding to a change in his housemate’s behavior.
Dr. Coren also considered the shape of the ears because earflaps, such as those found in dogs with floppy ears, can partially block incoming sounds. He distinguished between dogs with prick ears and those with floppy ears among the canines in his study. Because they could hear more of the seismic activity than dogs with floppy ears, dogs with prick ears displayed a greater increase in activity and anxiety the day before the earthquake.
How soon can dogs sense earthquakes?
Sadly, there isn’t solid proof demonstrating how quickly dogs can sense earthquakes. However, it’s thought that two months prior to the Japanese earthquake, dogs were already beginning to respond.
People have long reported observing unusual animal behavior before seismic events: dogs would bark nonstop, cows would stop producing milk, and toads would jump out of ponds. A few researchers have tried to substantiate a link. Red wood ants that nestled along a fault line were videotaped in a 2013 study by German researchers, who discovered that they altered their daily routine before an earthquake by becoming more active at night and less active during the day. But a 2018 Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America review that looked at 180 previous studies found that the majority of these attempts mainly relied on anecdotal evidence and single observations.
From Cincinnati, Ohio, Nancy Averett writes about the environment and social science. Her work has appeared in Audubon, Sierra, Discover, and elsewhere. Credit: Nick Higgins.
Wikelski says this observation is consistent with collective behavior theory. That theory was partially developed by his Max Planck colleague Iain Couzin, whose research team found evidence that fish, insects, birds, and mammals collaborate on information that helps them navigate and avoid predators. According to Wikelski, this “swarm intelligence” can exist both within and between species. For instance, he continues, “we studied Galápagos marine iguanas, and we know that they are actually hearing mockingbirds’ warnings about the Galápagos hawks.” “These kinds of systems exist all over the place. We’re just not really tuned in to them yet. ”.
Geologist Heiko Woith, a co-author of the 2018 review and a member of the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, praised the new study’s authors for measuring multiple instances of abnormal behavior. But he says the time frame was still too short. Woith also notes that a lot of studies claiming to demonstrate precursory earthquake signals frequently rely on inadequate data gathered over time, making it impossible to distinguish between a measured signal and an earthquake and just noise.
The animals’ typical daily interactions and movements were considered in the statistical analysis of the paper. It showed their activity significantly increased before magnitude 3. When kept together in a stable, they experienced earthquakes of magnitude 8 or higher, but not when they were out on pasture. According to Wikelski, this difference may be due to the increased stress that some animals experience in small spaces. The researchers assert that analyzing the increased movements as a whole revealed a distinct indication of anticipatory behavior hours before tremors. “It’s sort of a system of mutual influence,” Wikelski says. “At first, the cows sort of stand still—until the dogs go crazy.” And then the cows actually go even crazier. And then that amplifies the sheep’s behavior, and so on. ”.
FAQ
Can dogs sense an earthquake before it happens?
You’ve probably heard anecdotal evidence that dogs behave strangely in the hours or days prior to an earthquake. Dogs can predict tremors, but there is no conclusive scientific evidence for this and it is unclear what mechanism they may be employing.
Does dog barking mean earthquake?
However, the main aspect that dog owners who have seen their dogs acting abnormally prior to an earthquake have reported is simply any abnormal change in behavior. This might manifest as a rise in your dog’s activity levels, intensified anxiety, barking, whining, or even an attempt to flee or escape.
Do dogs bark before a disaster?
Your dog may exhibit signs of natural disaster sensing, such as restlessness, agitation, anxiety, and difficulty settling. Numerous barking, jumping, howling, whining, and even pacing and panting are to be expected.
What do dogs do when earthquake comes?
Your dog will likely panic and try to flee if the ground starts to tremble. Hold onto the leash as tightly as you can, but if your safety is in danger, you might need to let go and let your dog go in search of safety on his own.