Can Animals Predict Earthquakes? Here’s What Science Says

Can Animals Predict Earthquakes? For all pet owners, a common question that arises after an Earthquake is: Was my pet signalling the quake with its erratic behaviour? Or can animals actually predict earthquakes? If you’ve wondered the same, your search for the ultimate answer ends here.

What research claims about earthquakes?

“Earthquakes are usually caused when the underground rock suddenly breaks and there is rapid motion along a fault. This sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that shake the ground,” claims Michigan Technological University.

Also read: How Do You Know If Your Building Is Safe From Damage

Can animals predict earthquakes? Here’s what science says

“Anecdotal evidence abounds of animals, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects exhibiting strange behaviour anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake,” states the United States Geological Survey (USGS). “However, consistent and reliable behaviour before seismic events, and a mechanism explaining how it could work, still eludes us.”

According to research, animals can sense the primary (P) waves of an earthquake before the strong secondary (S) waves that shake the Earth's surface, which are detectable by humans.

The USGS explains, “We can easily explain the cause of unusual animal behaviour seconds before humans feel an earthquake. Very few humans notice the smaller P wave that travels the fastest from the earthquake source and arrives before the larger S wave. But many animals with more keen senses are able to feel the P wave seconds before the S wave arrives.”

Have you lately noticed any alarmed animal behaviour in your pets, such as restless cats and dogs? Or perhaps you unexpectedly stumbled upon a snake during the coolest time of the year? If so, this could suggest that animals can sense earthquakes just seconds before they occur, maybe not days or weeks in advance, but they do.

The Scientific American in its 2020 publication states, “Despite freezing temperatures, scores of snakes slithered out of their hibernation dens in the weeks before a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the Chinese city of Haicheng on February 4, 1975.”

An eyewitness recounting incidents from 2004, when a tsunami triggered a 9.1 magnitude undersea earthquake in Indonesia, tells the BBC that minutes and hours before the water level surged up to 30 ft high, elephants moved to higher ground, dogs refused to go outdoors, and flamingos abandoned nesting areas at ground level, all while the sensors were out of action.