Image Source: www.animalsandearthquakes.com
The recent earthquake on the East Coast has me thinking about animals. Specifically, animals that can reportedly predict earthquakes...a feat humans have yet to reliably accomplish.
According to the US Geological Survey, animals may be able to sense the fast traveling P waves which arrive seconds prior to the S wave of an earthquake. Although many studies suggest that observing animals in the hopes of being able to predict earthquakes is not a viable option since animals respond to many environmental cues. So how do you know when the strange behavior is in response to a pending quake or to a new predator moving into the neighborhood for example?
What are your thoughts on this debate?
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I'd bet on a dog. A dog trained to recognize a recording of a P wave, if you could find a way for it to give a signal for it, probably wouldn't use that signal for anything else.
I'd bet on a dog. A dog trained to recognize a recording of a P wave, if you could find a way for it to give a signal for it, probably wouldn't use that signal for anything else.
I guess the big issue is if an animal can predict an earthquake early enough to help people prepare for it. Like the dogs that supposedly can sense changes in their owners that are due to growing cancers.
Elephants they all raced up the hill in India with the Anech earthquake