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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Along with the stories of tragedy in Italy, there are also stories that the earthquake was predicted, and that the predictions were ignored. Was the tragedy made even worse by authorities who wouldn't listen to a scientist who knew what he was talking about?
The Great San Francisco Earthquake(s)
On October 8th, 1865, the "Great San Francisco Earthquake" hit south of the city of San Francisco, magnitude 6.3.
In the wake of Monday's earthquake in the L'Aquila region of Italy that killed over 200 people, news emerged that one Italian scientist had predicted the earthquake less than two weeks earlier.
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