Can cats, dogs, etc. really sense earthquakes beforehand?

[Elendil_s_Heir]

I thought Uncle Cecil had tackled the question before, but can’t find it in the archives. What’s the straight dope?

[BarnOwl]

I’m almost sure you have read the National Geographic article at…

National Geographic

…but I offer the link, just in case.

[Broomstick]

All I can offer is anecdote - although my three birds DEFINITELY sensed the recent Midwest earthquake while it was happening they gave absolutely no warning beforehand. So if there is an animal warning sense either it doesn’t exist in birds, doesn’t exist in my birds, or it’s unreliable.

For what it’s worth, they didn’t notice the aftershock(s), either.

[LSLGuy]

Earthquakes consist of so-called P-waves which arrive first, and S-waves which arrive a little later. The S-waves do the damage. If you could detect P waves you could “predict” an earthquake, at least by a few seconds unless it happened right immediately under where you are. There is research ongoing to improve that into a useful national warning system. P wave - Wikipedia

ISTR seeing a (non crackpot) website selling a legit device you could buy & attach to your house whcih would sound the alarm when it felt P waves.

Living as I do about 30 P vs S seconds away from the New Madrid fault, this was an interesting idea.

Perhaps some animals sense P-waves. There is at least a conceivable physics-based possibility there.

But much more likely, IMHO, is simply human observer’s confirmation bias. Animals don’t predict earthquakes any better than they do elections.

[devilsknew]

@LSLGuy

But much more likely, IMHO, is simply human observer’s confirmation bias. Animals don’t predict earthquakes any better than they do elections.

I’m an animal, and I predict Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the United States.

[Rico]

See?

:: d&r ::

[UltraVires]

How would anyone know this? Since animals can’t talk, how can they tell us that there is an earthquake coming?

[Tim_T-Bonham.net]

@LSLGuy

But much more likely, IMHO, is simply human observer’s confirmation bias. Animals don’t predict earthquakes any better than they do elections.

A whole lot of people have been predicting that the next election will occur on Nov 4, 2008. Seems like a pretty easy prediction to make.

[LSLGuy]

Jeez, I can’t take you people anywhere …

[BlankSlate]

At the precise moment the Loma Prieta earthquake struck San Francisco in 1989, I was standing in my kitchen doorway wondering why my cat had jumped on top of the refrigerator. More precisely, I was marveling at her ability to jump so high, when suddenly the building shook like a small boat being smashed by a giant wave.

I’ve never heard of P-waves before, but thank you. I never believed little Pudder could predict earthquakes, may she rest in peace.

[BlankSlate]

Reading the Wikipedia entry about the Loma Prieta quake, I came across this bit about magnetic disturbances:

The Loma Prieta earthquake was preceded by significant disturbances in the background magnetic field strength nearby. Large increases in extremely low frequency field strength were observed about 7 kilometers from the epicenter, up to two weeks in advance of the actual event. The measurement instrument was a single-axis search-coil magnetometer that was being used for research on radio communications with submarines by Prof. Antony C. Fraser-Smith of Stanford University. Signal strengths 20 times higher than normal were observed on October 3, rising to 60 times normal about three hours before the earthquake.

Is it possible this is what animals sense?

[Indian]

@jtgain

How would anyone know this? Since animals can’t talk, how can they tell us that there is an earthquake coming?

Immediately after 2004 december Tsunami in Asia, I saw a press report of dog behaving strangely and inviting the attention of owners, there by saving them, in indian state of Tamil Nadu.

This was reported in a vernacular daily ( it carried the photo of the dog also )and I couldn’t find it now in google search…

[chowder]

A few months back we had an earthquake in the UK.

Eccles, my cat, who normally sleeps in the hallway outside my bedroom, let out an ear piercing howl about 10 secs before the quake and came tear- arsing into the bedroom, leapt on the bed and frightened the shit outta me.

Yep, he knew all right

[Anne_Neville]

The Neville kitties don’t seem to be able to. I experienced two small earthquakes while living with them in California. They did react to the quakes, but I don’t remember them doing anything unusual right before the quakes.

I have a wine rack that can predict some earthquakes. It’s one of those ones that has slots for hanging glasses upside down from the top shelf. Before one small earthquake (didn’t have the cats then), the glasses mysteriously started clinking, even though nobody was near the wine rack. The P-waves started the clinking, and then I felt the S-waves later. The wine rack didn’t predict two other small earthquakes that happened while I was in CA, though. I think one may have been too small- the only sign was a sound like an interior door shutting. I only really noticed it because Mr. Neville was away and I was supposed to be the only creature in the apartment that was capable of opening and shutting doors, so hearing something that sounded like a door shutting scared me. The other may have been too close, so the S-waves and P-waves hit at almost the same moment.

Come to think of it, the ones that the wine rack didn’t predict were the only ones the Neville kitties were around for. Maybe they couldn’t predict them for the same reasons.

Unless there’s another quake at New Madrid like the ones in 1811 and 1812, I’m unlikely to get many chances to test the earthquake prediction abilities of either my wine rack or my cats in the near future.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Thanks, everybody. Some anecdotal evidence, then, but no scientific consensus.

[Indian]

pandas behaving wildly…

[Ludovic]

@devilsknew

I’m an animal, and I predict Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the United States.

Man, the political animal.

[rowrrbazzle]

CHINA EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION - by: Dr. George Pararas-Carayannis

As early as 1970, the State Seismological Bureau in China had identified Liaoning Province as a high earthquake-prone area. A short term earthquake prediction was given to the population in the Haicheng area as early as mid-January 1975. This prediction was based on a number of geophysical observations of precursor events as well as abnormal animal behavior. When the earthquake struck, the people of Haicheng and neighboring towns had been warned, and the warning saved many lives and averted a disaster of major proportions. Four other disastrous earthquakes were predicted by Chinese scientists during the 1975/76 period, giving hope that earthquake prediction was finally possible.

When a great earthquake with magnitude of 7.8 struck the city of Tangshan on July 28, 1976, at least 655,000 people died and 780,000 more were injured. There was no prediction for this earthquake, and therefore no warning. Hope in the accurate predictability of earthquakes evaporated. Although precursor events had been observed and geophysical and geochemical anomalies had been detected, these precursor events occurred over a very widely-spread area making it extremely difficult for scientists to focus on any particular region and thus issue a short-term prediction, or a warning.