Just before the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, some animals, such as birds and dogs, were more agitated than usual, according to reports from people in the region on social media.
According to a BBC report, there is evidence from ancient Greece that animals can “predict” earthquakes.
The newspaper “Washington Post” published a text in which it explains that there is research that shows that there is indeed a scientific reason that justifies the idea that animals are more capable of feeling small tremors seconds before an earthquake. However, there is also research that indicates that this topic needs to be studied further.
Read also: WHAT IS CAUSING EARTHQUAKE IN TURKEY?
How do animals feel earthquakes before they happen?
There are two types of seismic waves:
- P waves, the first to be emitted in an earthquake, which travel at a speed of several kilometers per second from the epicenter;
- The secondary S waves that make the ground shake.
According to the US Geological Survey, few humans can feel P waves, but many animals with keener senses feel these waves before the S waves arrive.
Martin Wikelski, a director of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behaviour, published research on this topic in 2020. It is not known why animals feel the lightest waves, but he claims that in research, it was noted that animals change behavior about 45 minutes before earthquakes that were detected in Italy.
Here are some examples of behavior:
- Cows stand still, not moving;
- Dogs get agitated, and start barking a lot;
- The sheep are disoriented
Research that has not yet found evidence
According to the “Washington Post”, in 2018, a review of 700 records of animal behavior before earthquakes concluded that it is still not possible to reach a conclusion that animals feel earthquakes before they happen.
In this review, we tried to find out whether animals feel earthquakes before seismic machines do. Much of the evidence was unreliable, the study determined.
