Can Animals Predict Earthquakes?

[@jeffbertjeffbertson4805]

I can’t wait until the earthquake frog becomes a regular part of the weather report

[@sdfkjgh]

@Jeffbert Jeffbertson: I'm not sure if reclaiming pepe for this purpose would be worth it or not.

[@lonestarr1490]

@@sdfkjgh Personally, I would suggest Kermit, for he has a somewhat shaky attitude to him.

[@jeffbertjeffbertson4805]

Lone Starr hearing Kermit say “magnitude 9.2, oh dear” would be a nice silver lining

[@Circletime]

Sounds like a slippery slope to ending up with an IRL Hypnotoad

[@sdfkjgh]

@@Circletime: Yes, but that's every outcome, isn't it? Waitaminute! Is Our Lord and Overbeing the Hypnotoad actually Royko's Basilisk?! Haha, Royko's Hypnotoad goes "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"!

[@BRUXXUS]

This makes me curious if WE, humans act differently before a quake, too. Something we don't even register consciously.

[@Samu2010lolcats]

It depends on the earthquake. Earthquakes that have very loud subterranean noise prior to the quake itself are very easy to predict.

[@111jkjk]

This would be easier to test as well as there exist plenty of data already available from fitbits and phones

[@Jp-ue8xz]

pretty difficult to measure since we act weird a.f. all the time xD

[@BRUXXUS]

@Joel bluup That’s kind of what I was thinking. People would probably have to opt in to share that data, tho.

[@NXTMusicianBassist]

I'm sure we do. Infrasound has been shown to have subconscious effects. As an anecdote, I have woken up a moment before an earthquake shook my bed. I just popped awake just in time to be aware when the shake arrived. (They're rare here in Texas, so the 3.x I felt was a particularly memorable event for me.)

[@porp109]

Silly smarty pants humans can't even smell the earthquake coming

[@lanreyjoseph]

Haha😂😂

[@sanantreass9701]

I live in Greece, we have frequent earthquakes here a least twice a year, but not strong ones. One dog that my family had from 95 till 2006 was super quiet, never barking etc...until we started to notice that whenever an earthquake stroke, she was anxious and barking constantly with no other reason 2 or 3 hours before the earthquake. She was so consistent with this behavior that when we saw her like that, we left our house and went to the park 3 or 4 times before an earthquake... unfortunately i haven't notice anything similar in my other dogs before or since.

[@ericBorja520]

You're telling me we could have cow powered earthquake detectors in the future?

[@PaulPaulPaulson]

A device that can detect cow powered earthquakes? I'd buy one! Lucky for us, cows need 3 weeks to build up enough energy before they collectively release it as an earthquake. So enough time for us to prepare.

[@rdizzy1]

Just big computers plugged into cow brains in tanks filled with liquid.

[@lyndsaybrown8471]

Moo research is required

[@alexnute9818]

An earthquake powered by cows... udderly terrifying

[@sdfkjgh]

@@alexnute9818: And now I can't stop thinking of this old song, so thanks for that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIKwk4uso5eFhKs

[@Nick-Lab]

Dogs and cats can hear/feel the P wave which arrives a few seconds before the S waves. P waves are compression waves and are not very noticeable to people while S waves are responsible for the shaking and structural damage. I've seen vids of dogs and cats freaking out a few seconds before the rooms started shaking.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

This is measuring animals reacting much earlier than that, on the order of weeks, not minutes.

[@rusdanibudiwicaksono1879]

One hypothesis is that animals can also felt microquakes that precedes big earthquake.

[@mahadaalvi]

Exhibit A: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2rLeq2gZahsrJY

[@GoodMusicManiac999]

On 5 April 2005 many dogs throughout my region began sensing the quake as early as 14-12 hours before it actually happened, even in very distant places from the epicenter (seaside places, for example).

[@rpsgrayfox]

Scientists: humans see patterns where there are none Also Scientists: Cows make less milk on average 3 weeks before an earthquake

[@cezarcatalin1406]

Well, if it’s a pattern that holds very well, we can deduce a strong statistical correlation.

[@davidharris2517]

@C. Caner Telimenli r/wooooosh

[@davidharris2517]

@C. Caner Telimenli well if they're right you've definitely had a vaccine or two

[@lostpockets2227]

@@davidharris2517 I'm reporting u to the polis

[@BortPlate]

That went over your head my friend.

[@jakewolf079]

People who dismiss these so called animal senses are too arrogant. Science is about discovering and accepting new phenomenons, not the other way around. Just because it feels magical or nonsensical doesn't mean it can't be real.

[@DoctorX17]

Magic is just science we haven't figured out yet

[@somedragontoslay2579]

Well, yeah. But it's also about trying to debunk everything possible and accept what we can't debunk... for now.

[@rebbyking2823]

Man I tell people this all the time. Human science has come far but it’s NOWHERE near as developed as it COULD be. We have barely explored our ocean floors or even know why some mental disorders exist, we should be more open to accepting something can exist just because we can’t explain it

[@gardenhead92]

When I see my chonky cat wobbling back-and-forth, I know there's an earthquake.

[@cezarcatalin1406]

Voltaic Fire Big chonkers don’t run 😂

[@shabankullolli1499]

At last, un urban legend with a plausible scientific explanation behind it.

[@Yamaazaka]

Bit more often than one would think.

[@jacobcoolguy]

Right? I'd hope that the wonders of science wouldn't go so far as to make me a TOTAL cynic.

[@rylandrc]

Well, no verified explinations yet.

[@jacobcoolguy]

rylandrc there's some hope! At least this wasn't a scishow psych episode 🥴

[@ripwig6682]

Don't eat yellow snow.

[@MrBoubource]

I'm a student in applied maths engineering, and I'm having a hard time finding areas of applications that are not about making a lot of money using information about people they wouldn't share if they could chose (aka big data in tech companies) or banks... Predicting earthquakes is definitely a job I would take ! Thanks Scishow for helping me figure out my career !

[@edie1707]

this is actually really cool! what exactly would you do in that field?

[@MrBoubource]

@@edie1707 Using some data science stuff, I could design some program to make sense of the data collected by all these animals. Let's say an animal gets anxious when an earthquake is coming. He might move in short bursts between places to hide instead of slow walks between places to feed and rest. These sensors output the position of each animal, by taking the second derivative over time, you get the acceleration, which is something that can easily tell the difference between these two behaviors, and from that deduce whether the data from this species indicates an earthquake, and even when it could happen. These two behaviors are very simple and probably far from enough, but it shows the idea. Then by combining predictions from different species, we could have a pretty accurate result. I'm am still learning and for now I can't really do something that big, but at least it made me feel better about what I do ahah !

[@better.better]

@@MrBoubource most likely your job would be looking for patterns in the data that vary from baseline patterns, I don't think it's as important to figure out what the cause of the pattern change is, since you'd only be working with accelerometer data, and possibly heart-rate sensor. the point being you don't want to limit your results to known patterns based on reasons that people already suspect, instead you want to discover any patterns. I would think that signs of anxiousness would be good, as well as signs of off season migration, but also less obvious things such as stocking up on toilet paper and hand sanitizer

[@srpenguinbr]

@@MrBoubource I wonder if programmers can make an AI to predict earthquakes using seismometers and train it using all the years of data scientists already have

[@MrBoubource]

@@srpenguinbr It has already been tried if I'm not mistaken, but didn't work. Google says there is some research in this field going on (predicting earthquakes with past earthquake data for seismometers)

[@Manganra7]

When I was in Japan once, I was lying in bed, listening to the cicadas, when suddenly they stopped. A few seconds later there was a very small earthquake. The cicadas resumed after the rumbling stopped.

[@nicoleashley3906]

Hey SciShow just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you putting captions on for your videos, it helps.

[@jblob5764]

They arent earthquakes. it's just Muscle Hank dropping his dumbbells

[@cezarcatalin1406]

Well, tell him to put them down slowly !

[@sdfkjgh]

@@cezarcatalin1406: You don't _tell_ Our Lord and Savior, Muscle Hank, anything. You _reverently supplicate yourself and politely request_ that He maybe think about doing something, and if you've been a good little lesser being/subject, and eaten your protein powder, then, maybe, He'll consider granting you a boon.

[@PowerhouseCell]

SciShow: e a r t h q u a k e s 2020: _Write that down, write that down!!_

[@PrestonSmithsMusic]

That made me want to literally start praying - to anything! Whatever will change the damn odds! lol.

[@yarielrobles9003]

That already happened over here in Puerto Rico

[@glenngriffon8032]

Remember kids, the only difference between screwing around and science, is writing it down.

[@sdfkjgh]

@@yarielrobles9003: We've already had several quakes here in SoCal.

[@Master_Therion]

1:40 "Cows produced less milk in the three weeks before an earthquake." But, cows during an earthquake? Isn't that how milkshakes are made?

[@cezarcatalin1406]

**s l o w c l a p p i n g**

[@sdfkjgh]

Cows during an earthquake: *M M L S A E R N S L T E U L T T E A D...* *Y I K H K B I G A L H B L S O H Y R*

[@johnpureza1600]

Funny... Wasted your time scrolling down

[@strictlyeducationalmagick]

Alligators let me know when the river's gonna flood.

[@alwaysardent1125]

How? #curious

[@strictlyeducationalmagick]

@@alwaysardent1125 They swim up river and don't try to hide.

[@carissstewart3211]

This raises another intriguing question: if various species from birds to toads to cows (?) can sense changes in seismic activity, why don't humans?

[@Wingedshadowwolf]

I was thinking along those lines too. I wonder if they tag and track enough species if they will find animals that also don't pick up on it.

[@carissstewart3211]

@@Wingedshadowwolf I would imagine that only a tiny number of animals would pick up on subtle changes in the environment, but the cows thing really threw me. Cows?!

[@elianna838]

To be fair, it’s not like the animals know or can themselves predict an earthquake is coming. They only detect changes in their environment but they would not attribute it to an impending quake. So, it’s always possible that humans DO react to changes in our environment but we do it unconsciously and also don’t attribute our behavior changes to an upcoming earthquake.

[@shadowprince4482]

Yeah this one has me super skeptical as well.

[@TheBlueB0mber]

Elianna exactly. Correlation is not causation.

[@HotCoals]

Scientist 1: Any ideas on how we can predict earthquakes? Scientist 2: What if we put gps trackers on birds? Scientist 1: ... Scientist 2: ... Scientist 1: You're a bloody genius, Larry!

[@nitsuanew]

“They basically put Fitbit on them.”

[@MinorZero]

That is the translation that makes science accessible to all :)

[@lacewinglml]

Reminds me of a study that went ip a few years ago that was tracking changes in human behavior and noting spikes right before big events or disasters we also react to things, we just learned to disregard our gut feelings

[@AuntBibby]

as an autistic person, i often hear things from very far away and erroneously assume they are caused by something happening much closer, only to discover my assumption was incorrect & decide i must have imagined the sound, rather than that i must have falsely interpreted the sound i heard in an attempt to interpret it less falsely

[@Chromia1]

Would cats even tell us? Or just sit back and watch?🤣🐈

[@lilaclizard4504]

They'd tell us if we watched their behaviour. If we see them moving everything they can right to the edges of tables & then sitting there watching with glee, you know that the shaking is about to start :)

[@johnholloway691]

Years ago in Japan I snapped awake in pre-dawn silence in a cold sweat, my heart pounding. Suddenly, all the neighborhood dogs started to bark and howl. They were really freaking out. Then, after about half a minute, they suddenly fell silent, and I could hear a low rumble building in volume, like a locomotive approaching from a long way off. It was only then that the shaking started, suddenly and violently, making my bed "walk" across the floor (with me in it!). It subsided after only about 20 seconds, and the dogs resumed barking normally. This all took less than two minutes. It turned out to be a quake that rated just 3.3 on the Richter scale, but we had been at the epicenter. While it's clear the dogs "knew" something was up, I'll bet instrumentation would have picked up definite physiological changes in me before I actually heard or felt anything...not that it would have had much predictive value!

[@bensmith88]

I look forward to one day getting an alert because Bessie's Fitbit says she's acting strangely. Sounds like it's good and excuses as any to go have a picnic away from any tall objects.

[@Siska0Robert]

"They basically put fitbits on them" Lines like this is main reason why I still watch SciShow daily.

[@johnclarke4701]

If we could only find an animal that would warn us when KZbin was going to interrupt the video with commercials. We would have the perfect companion for our watching videos on paint drying and others that are popular.

[@diannerussell9653]

100% they can. When I was around 16 years old I had an Australian budgerigar which is a small beautiful parrot . It was very restless in its cage one night and I couldn’t settle him. We also had to bring our Colli dog inside because he was scratching frantically out the front door. This was around 11pm at night and the noise from our pets woke the family up. We finally got the pets to settle when a tremor hit it only lasted a couple of seconds. This happened in Australia where I live.

[@房々猫]

I am Japanese. I had a cat at the time of the 2011 earthquake, but there was no change... It's hard to say as it was 400 km (about 250 miles) away from the epicenter of the earthquake. A few hours later, the cats began to sleep!😹

[@2008tfe]

When I was in sicily during a spree of earth quakes. My dog would start whimpering just prior to the shaking. I though she was waking me up just prior to one around. 0200. Crazy.

[@MakeMeThinkAgain]

By tracking dogs we can probably learn a lot about squirrels. Cats are probably looking at things in alternate universes.

[@ErictheHalf_bee]

In medieval times, they used sheeps' bladders to predict earthquakes. Sadly, the technique was lost in a freak accident involving an eccentric enchanter and all of Sir Robin's favourite minstrels.

[@the1original1jwerta]

Cool beans. Kinda suprised we haven't tried a study like this with mass animals before.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

It really hasn't been that long that we've been able to have tracking tags that are small enough and durable enough to track smaller animals, like the bird shown in the video, without changing the very patterns they were trying to measure. Think of the last time you saw a cat with one of those leash harnesses being absolutely insistent that they are *NOT going to be walked like a dog.* You need technology that is tiny enough, yet strong enough, to do the trick without it being obvious to the animal that anything is ON them.

[@hannajung7512]

And its not only the workability. You also want to be pretty certain, that it is worth the recources befor you start a project of that size. This is why all the smaller studies had to be done first. Especcially since there were conflicting accounts which animals can predict earthquakes etc.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

@@hannajung7512 exactly. Like there has to be preliminary testing for new medicines, to tell if they are even safe, before they can be tested for whether they help with the disease they might treat. Science always has different levels of testing, no matter what kind of subject it's working on.

[@savvivixen8490]

Certain groups of scientists keep track of specific animal populations already, right? Is there a way to cross coordinate travel data between creatures over set periods of time? Like birds, bears, foxes, fish, deer, wolves, and other animals that have already been tagged?

[@rusdanibudiwicaksono1879]

@@savvivixen8490 Post-GPS Proliferation? Possible. Pre-GPS Proliferation? Hahaha good luck.

[@crunch507]

I definitely think there is some truth to this. When I lived in Kenai, AK small earthquakes were extremely common and my dog would whine out of nowhere and about 10 minutes later I’d get an alert on my phone saying we got like 3.2 earthquake. I never felt it be she always could. One the big one hit anchorage she was home alone while I was working and I felt bad because she got extremely anxious and chewed up some carpet and wood trim (something she never does)

[@syitiger9072]

Yeah that 7.0 was crazy i was in an 4 story attic when it hit but was jamming out to metal

[@aemrt5745]

I realize correlation does not necessarily mean causation. Plus, I am not a Biologist or Geologist (am an Engineer), so this story is anecdotal. We have two indoor only cats; Sophie and Dexter. This past Dec 13, Sophie was agitated in the middle of the night and awakened our daugnter, but that was the extent of her odd behavior. Dexter, on the other hand, was acting very very weird in the morning. Cats love routine, and I feed both early in the morning before work, and they wake me up for food (excellent alarm clock). That morning Dexter was hiding under the bed and refused to leave to eat (he is immediately ready for breakfast every morning). Several hours later, he emerged and was very nervous and walked around the house with his tail poofed out and did not eat much. Normally he rules the house, this was behavior never seen before. I could not find any signs of injury. Sophie was not agitated again, but Dexter continued this behavior (though to a lesser degree with each day) for a while. Day three he was almost back to normal, day four he was fine. Again, I examined him carefully and found no signs of injury, plus both cats are strictly indoor. I even joked with my wife that we may have an earthquake. Welp, seven days after his first morning freakout the 6.4 earthquake hit Eureka California a few hundred miles away in the middle of the night. We were far enough away to sleep thru it, but there were reports of very light shaking in our region per USGC. Now, did Dexter sense the coming earthquake? Perhaps. Though for all I know something entirely unrelated spooked him in the middle of the night. I have no scientific evidence for a correlation, again this is purely an anecdotal observation. But....if he freaks out again, I will be watching things carefully and making sure I am prepared just on the off chance my cat knows something.

[@molldoll37]

See, this is just one of the reasons why I want to become a zoologist. Animals so often have unique adaptations and abilities that nature has given them hundreds, thousands, or millions of years ago that humans would do well to learn from.

[@Snoozie]

Around 2013-14 there was a earthquake in montreal and my dog was scared and wouldn't leave me alone and I was wondering why and holding her then we had an earthquake, and I thought Wow okay that whole animals can tell when earth quakes are gonna happen is real

[@ptkush3416]

I just wrote my story in comments as well, then started reading other comments. I also pointed out in mine that my dog was very scared.

[@zackalzar1]

Counter point. I lived in japan for a couple years and my dog never acted any different before the earthquakes.

[@internetmosttrendingvideos2622]

Back in 2002 in the evening, we noticed that our cat and turtle were behaving strangely. It seemed like they both were trying to hide from something. The cat was climbing trees and other things while the turtle was trying to hide under something. They were kind of scared and trying to flee. The whole family noticed this behavior. A couple of hours later, a strong earthquake hit. We noticed their unusual behavior and talked about it before the earthquake had even hit. The earthquake was one of the strongest in our country's record. Thousands of people died

[@alexharshman7025]

There was one 'nest cam' video that surfaced recently of cats in a room that started acting erratic right before the camera started to shake. But the timing has to be that they either heard or felt it right at the last seconds

[@Pandozo]

There's a catfish species in Japan that goes "crazy" before an earthquake, there's even a legend about that and now it's believe they can sense changes into the electromagnetic field before the earthquake

[@SuperMissblueeyes]

That's also belived to be what triggers birds to react before an earthquake.

[@BlinkinFirefly]

I'm surprised scientists haven't figured this one out yet. But we must be getting close.

[@socrabe]

I would like an update on that project when data will be available!

[@justzach253]

There just probably reading the seismic wave scanner that we leave out there. They send one of their squirrel friends to keep track.

[@amberallen7809]

I don't know about earthquakes but I do know animals know when a hurricane is coming. I was in the greater New Orleans area in 2005. Pretty much all the animals I knew should be there- squirrels, birds, cicadas- disappeared a day before Katrina hit. It was very unsettling. Not a cloud in the sky yet but almost no "natural" sounds. And it wasn't just that they weren't making noise like they usually would. They were just not there. Especially the birds.

[@adilhussain3124]

My cat feeling the ground vibrate: 😦

[@SecretiaTV]

We had a pet tarantula when we lived in California and about an hour or 2 before an earthquake happened, the spider would climb to the top of its aquarium like it was trying to escape. This spider rarely climbed its terrarium because it was quite happy and well-fed. However, it got to the point that we could predict earthquakes. We predicted the Whittier quake of 1987 and other smaller quakes over 2 years. I doubt that animals "sense" an earthquake weeks or days before, but they do definitely "sense" them about an hour or 2 before they happen

[@tuankiettranle1738]

The cows: produced less milk than normal* Farmers: PANIC!!

[@ReroutedYearAD]

Finally! FIRST! Aw, that was great timing, just getting out of the shower and opening youtube with this in my feed and have interest in watching it right off. Actually got to be first.

[@toddhollen]

I'm not a scientist, but if I were trying to find out why a bunch of frogs left a body of water, I feel like testing the pH of the water would be one of the first things I did. 🤷‍♂️

[@myribstellmesheslying]

I've watched so much of these videos I think I'm in love with Hank now.

[@BaraJFDA]

Happens all the time in California at least. Most dogs and cats frantically run for cover just seconds or minutes away from an earthquake. Many were recorded on personal and security cameras too.

[@Alwindar1]

For some reason, before the earthquake at night i usually woke up a few seconds to a minute before the earthquake.

[@A.Martin]

once they figure out how animals detect earthquakes coming then they should be able to make a mechanical system to detect the earthquakes.

[@woodruffashbourne8372]

We in California know about "earthquake weather".

[@arianaiscurlyfri1]

When it goes from really hot to really cool or really cold to really hot lololololol

[@elizabethmcglothlin5406]

I suspect in some of the anecdotes, the animal simply NOTICED the earthquake sooner. My late husband believed his dog could detect earthquakes, since she--a large dog--tried to get under his bed in one of our rare Ohio earthquakes. I suspect she felt it, and the resulting bed-quake was what woke him.

[@getkiosk8563]

Ig snakes would be the first ones to know about an upcoming earthquake

[@ishmaelnarag9605]

If large earthquakes follow a loading cycle of centuries, how can these animals with relatively shorter life spans develop such an evolutionary flight response?

[@aemrt5745]

My only guess is their sharper senses detect unusual sounds or vibrations we cannot detect. I don't think its evolutionary, but a break in ambient environment routine.

[@Neckcron]

We've only had 2 or 3 Earthquakes here in IL but every time about 60 sec b4 it feels like opposite poles of 2 magnets being push together my torso

[@RandomDragonEXE]

Before watching this video, I just want to say, a couple of years ago around 2013 my dog Sophie ran to me and into my bed, and a couple of seconds later an earthquake happened! Just wanted to put that out there

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

Yeah, that's the anecdotal evidence thing they talk about in the video, as well as hindsight bias, also something discussed in the video. They are talking about actually studying animal activity patterns over a long term, to see if and how animals react before, during, and after these events. By the end of this year (assuming the scientists avoid the virus [and the virulently violent angry people who don't like masks or something] so they can do it) they are supposed to be able to start gathering the data from the animals and seeing how well it can be used to predict the earthquakes, and maybe even volcanic eruptions. Which would be a double benefit! A HUGE benefit, with one, but an even HUGER benefit if they can get BOTH kinds of predictions!

[@BoDiddly]

I was out walking my sisters dog 7 years ago when she (a German Shepard) started sniffing at the ground. It was verry odd because I couldn't get her attention. We were in the backyard and she was off of the leash. Eventually, I went and grabbed her collar and brought her inside. Later that night, We had an earthquake... or wrather, the neighboring state (South Carolina) had a 4.1 earthquake that we felt here in Atlanta. I believe animals can absolutely detect earthquakes.

[@barrydysert2974]

I'm thrilled to hear open talk of the electrical role in seismicity and volcanism!!! The vail begins to lift💜

[@miserablerhurensohn]

I once had a couple parakeets and one early morning before I got up for work, they started going nuts in the cage. It was only about a minute or less that I felt the house shaking a small bit. Not much of a warning but they never did that before or after and that was the only earthquake I experienced while I owned them.

[@dragonlady3852]

All I know is that about five minutes before the only earthquake I've ever been in my cat Mele ran into the bathroom and started shrieking at me at the top of her lungs. Mele was the quietest cat I ever owned and had never acted that way before or since.

[@eurogryphon]

This was part of the topic of the River Monsters episode Cold Blooded Horror. When Jeremy Wade went there in 2011, one of the myths he studied regarded the Namazu, a catfish the ancient Japanese believed caused earthquakes. The myth was so prevalent in Japanese culture that a scientist captured one of these catfish, stuck it in an aquarium with a laser detection system that would trigger a counter whenever the fish broke the beam (whenever the catfish stopped lazing around on the bottom of the tank), and recorded the results on a daily basis. The scientist found a correlation between the number of beam breaks and earthquake activity, showing that the catfish really didn't want to be at the bottom of the tank whenever there was an impending quake.

[@GoodMusicManiac999]

That's true. On April 6, 2009 at 3:32 am my region was struck by a serious quake that destroyed our capital town. During the previous afternoon my mother noticed our hens were unusually nervous and behaving very awkwardly, much more than they usually do whenever major changes in weather are expected or hunters/wildlife are around. She struggled locking them in their coop for the night and once inside, they sat all along the walls, leaving their favorite spots. In addition, many dogs and even wildlife seemed unusually vocal that day (there's a solitary roe deer inhabiting the wood behind my house, and barked miserably till eight pm on April 5). My cats refused to eat their dinner, and my mother cat, whose kittens were a week old, earlier in the day took them in a safer place which, coincidentally, was directly above my sleeping room. When I went to bed, she was so unsettled that caused me an extreme discomfort (I could hear her walking in circles and howling uncontrollably, which didn't help with my insomnia), further reinforcing my mom's statement that something exceptional was about to happen given animals' unrest. We found out during the night.

[@ebonyblack4563]

That's incredibly ambitious! The data from such a project will be incredible!

[@pdreding]

I'm sure "Project Icarus" will be a rousing success. 😓

[@massimookissed1023]

And when it isn't, we move on to Project Daedalus.

[@lh3540]

They can probably hear sub-bass. Sound travels further in water, and you also have some amount of bone conduction that humans don't appreciate because we aren't usually barefoot (or paying attention). Humans can get distressed by sounds beyond their range of hearing. People become psychologically uneasy if they have sound waves beyond their hearing.

[@ptkush3416]

Anecdotal I know, but I absolutely saw proof of this with 100% certainty. I've had my dog for ten years. She's a border heeler, aka border collie/blue heeler mix. Like many dogs, thunderstorms are very stressful for her and she shows her distress through very obvious signs, primarily by looking me dead in the eye with a distressed look and then refusing to leave my side for the duration of the thunderstorm (she's usually quite independent). She showed this exact same behavior two years ago with a clear blue sky outside, eight years into having a thorough communication system in a 1 human/1 dog home. She had previously only shown this distress at thunderstorms and nothing else, which was confusing to me. In the next 36 hours, we experienced 2 earthquakes. Both times she was visibly extra distressed right before they hit (both times insisting on direct contact with me, more scared than I had ever seen her). The change she displayed right before the quake was so severe, that after learning from the first one, I was able to predict the second one within a 10 minute frame. I'm not claiming that all animals or even all dogs can predict quakes, but my dog sure can.

[@ptkush3416]

Oh, and a reference to another SciShow vid... Yes, my dog always faces north when pooping. Weird but true.

[@cppss69]

Just now Taiwan has an earthquake, my friend told me his pet cat were hiding before the earthquake happen. People should just raise a pet and go live in a natural disaster area if really wanted to see if it urban legend

[@Omnifarious0]

It's always fun when something that seems like a myth is confirmed rather than debunked. :-)

[@thedonpurplemanradiohour2508]

Hank: hank words Me: yes

[@Ya_Boy_Squelch]

So all animals just have the force I guess

[@kevinconrad6156]

There is a video on YT at a cat shelter. Most, not all, of the cats run for cover a couple of seconds before a quake starts.

[@connecticutaggie]

Growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast, I got to go through several hurricanes. One thing I (and I am pretty sure others) have noticed is that everything gets really quiet the day (several hours) before the storm arrives. It seems like the animals (specifically birds and squirrels) seem to disappear. I haven't done or seen anything scientific about this; but, the pattern seems pretty repeatable.

[@awesomeness86]

Humans can get the odd feeling before earthquakes too. the earthquake in California 2003 , I was walking to work and this was 3hrs before the quake, I felt really off. Everything felt off, the air felt different, the sound, everything was off and I felt it. After the earthquake I felt better. People can feel these as well. Just everyone is too distracted by everyday life to notice.

[@vendweler]

Before Taal Volcano Erupts (earlier this year) people observed massive flock of birds leave the volcanic island. And a few hours later volcanic Quakes was detected by the Monitoring Instruments around the volcano.

[@veganchaatparty]

Super super super interesting...super thanks for sharing!! :)

[@NostalgiaChubby]

I was feeding ground squirrels in 1980 right before Mt. St. Helens blew...they ALL disappeared underground about 10 seconds before it blew

[@parveenhameed4843]

Yes I have observed that animals can feel the earthquake seconds before the people do. I live in a earthquake zone, many times animals have shown signs of panic or distress before an earthquake. Birds turn very noisy and start flying as if sending a warning, cattle . Cats and dogs , I have seen acting odd and scared 😱.

[@dikatok]

Having assumption or even bias is sometimes better than none at all

[@musclehank6067]

Well I sure can. 2028... watch out

[@jehmarxx]

There will come a time when a strong earthquake occurs but the ground just shakes and when it's over, people would just get on with their routine like nothing happened. I'm pessimistic for this world, though.

[@muhsinkamal9988]

Thank you for this informative video

[@thenewbrazy9997]

3:30 problem with that is what happen when those animals die? Do we replace them with more test animals

[@alexreifschneider6709]

Did you say they couldn't udderly explain the change in milk production.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

~groan~ Ugh, take my like and go. Before I change my mind. 🤦‍♀️

[@alexreifschneider6709]

@@MaryAnnNytowl thank you for the laugh.

[@tamaravargas1]

And you don't believe gluing tracking devices signalling to the International space station is going to change their behaviour and/or interfere with them being able to sense these soft changes in the environment?

[@rusdanibudiwicaksono1879]

One: It's not signaling to ISS, but many, _many_ geosynchronous satellites that also taking care of our daily globat 'net. Which also coordinating with GPS satellites. Two: Putting tracking devices on unsuspecting animals had been old hat since we start learning about bird migratory habits. The most cutting edge device can be fitted into MLB Championship Ring, easy peasy.

[@tamaravargas1]

@@rusdanibudiwicaksono1879 thank you for the clarification. At 3:10 on this video there's a picture of a bird with about an inch long tracking device on it's back. Hopefully they are using smaller ones like you described. Be less irritating.

[@rusdanibudiwicaksono1879]

@@tamaravargas1 Pets also had similar devices installed by their owner. Including small animals like, say, Chihuahua. Works exactly the same. Also, that tracker would gone once the bird start molting. So 1 year data, no biggie.

[@Ultrapunk1]

They feel the spirit of the Earth!

[@SaladFingers_]

I live in an area that gets earthquakes very often. I don't know about animals predicting them hours before they happen, but my cat has been repeatedly acting weird just a couple minutes early. I always assumed he could hear/feel certain initial vibrations before I did.

[@marcellanelson3722]

My dad told me decades ago that an unusual amount of newspaper ads for lost dogs always preceded earthquakes.

[@teathomas]

My question is, as someone who has rarely experienced earthquakes and has no adult memory of feeling one, what would you do with this information? Like if we knew one was going to happen soon, what would experts give as their suggestion in the warning announcement? With a flood you leave, with a tornado you find shelter. What do you do when you know an earthquake is going to happen vaguely soon? I’m really curious if anyone has any thoughts.

[@UnlimitedFlyers]

Well, in the Tsunami that set off the Fukushima reactor meltdown, it WAS reported that animals were seeing fleeing from the coastal areas *hours* before. It's good to know that at least technology has advanced to a point where we can TRY to come up with an EWS, even if it IS "cow-powered"... I bet anyone that avoids death in such scenarios will think less of the methods that saved them.

[@BlueImation]

*My dog is cute so she is obviously magic*

[@JonathanFisherS]

K, so here's a completely unscientific data point. In Kansas, we rarely have earthquakes. The first time I felt one, I woke up in the middle of the night. My cat also sat straight up, and growled (something he never does).. Nothing was moving for about 30s, then the shaking started for around 60s, before tapering off, then into a few aftershocks. I have no idea what what woke my cat and I up before everything started, but it was very obvious whatever woke me up woke him up too.

[@matthewlytle7607]

I guess it's getting easier to track animals as there are less every year.

[@davidwells7279]

I can feel an earthquake before it hits and thought everyone could, I get about 20 seconds notice for a small quake.

[@pp-nx1ck]

My dog slept strait through the earthquake that hit Cali the other day.

[@vanrozay8871]

One guy in the S.F. Bay Area predicted quakes from reading reports of lost pets; in the days before a major quake, more cats and dogs were reported missing. Plausible, IMO.

[@afrosty96]

I'm just hype about the idea of a world-wide farm animal earthquake detection system, and all the city cows doing their job to make the world safer.

[@lasarousi]

I always assumed animals like dogs and cats get startled before an earthquake hit because they can hear or or detect the rattling earlier than humans. Just how sometimes you can know it will start raining because you hear the rain coming. physically falling in trees.

[@danijelandroid]

Haven't watched the video. Answer: animals don't predict earthquakes, they sense earthquakes before humans do.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

Semantics. The hypothesis is that they sense some changes ahead of time, which could be something we use to predict the events.